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fiiixiiESs; ^WAmnT'i'&T :.t. 




NATIONAL JEWELS: 



WASHINGTON, LINCOLN, AND THE FATHERS 



REVOLUTION. 



BY 



EEY. ANDEEW MANSHIP, 

OF THE PHILADELPHIA CONFERENCE. 



PHILADELPHIA: 

COMPILED AND PUBLISHED BY REV. A. MANSHIP, 

AND FOR SALE AT THE DEPOSITORY OF THE TRACT SOriETY, U9 NORTH SIXTH ST 

AT PERKINPIM: k IIKiGIXS', -)6 N. FOTTRTII ST. ; AT CARLTON & PORTEirS 

200 MULBERRY ST., NEW YORK ; .TAMES MAGEE, BOSTON, 

MASS. ; POE & HITCHCOCK, CINCINNATI, OHIO, 

AND AT OTHER BOOKSTORES. 

1865. 






3738-6? 

>03 



Entered according to the act of Congress, in the year 1865, by 

ANDREW MA NSHIP, 

in the Office of the Clerk of the District Court of the United States in and for the Eastern 
District of the State of Pennsylvania. 



COLLINS, PRINTER, PHILADELPHIA. 



TO 

LIEUTENANT-GENERAL GRANT, 

AS A TOKEN OF THE PROFOUND RESPECT 

OP THE 

COMPILEE 

FOR HIS INVALUABLE SERVICES IN CONDUCTING 

THE ARMIES OF THE UNION IN TRIUMPH 

THROUGH THE LATE DREADFUL WAR. 



PEEFACE. 



Now tliat the gigantic Rebellion which persistently held out for foui 
long years, spreading desolation throughout the whole country, East 
West, North, and South, forcibly reminding us of the passage, "lu 
Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation and weeping, and great mourn- 
ing, Rachel weeping for her children and would not be comforted, because 
they are not:" now that the rebellion is happily over, should not all, ia 
every portion of the country, pray for a permanent peace, and that Christ, 
the King of kings and Lord of lords, may so reign on this green, beautiful 
earth, that "nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall 
they learn war any more"? lu some cases, however — 

"Perhaps war is but Heaven's great ploughshare, driven 
Over the barren, fallow earthly fields, 
Preparing them for harvest; rooting up 
Grass, weeds, and flowers, which necessary fall. 
That in these furrows the wise husbandman 
May drop celestial seed." 

I have asked myself the question, What can I do in order to benefit my 
redeemed, beloved country, of which I can enthusiastically say — 

" Long may our land be bright 
With freedom's holy light i"' 

In answering this important question, I have settled down on this point: 
That I can do good by arranging and presenting in an inviting form the 
great patriotic sentiments of our national benefactors, "of whom the world 
was not worthy;" and last, but by no means least, in this bright galaxy 
we place our martyred illustrious successor of the great immortal Wash- 
ington, the Father of his country. Hi^ Inaugurals show good-will to all 
sections of his beloved country, and "malice towards none." What he has 
said, as set forth in this unpretending volume, will be read by generations 
now unborn, and all will be ready to say, "What could have been done 
more to ray vineyard, that I have not done in it? Wherefore, when I 
looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes?" 
But "surely the wrath of man shall praise Thee:" and though the Govern- 
ment at the head of which Mr. Lincoln was providentially placed did not 



Vi PREFACE. 

expect or desire to interfere with the existing arrangements and institutions 
of the country, the Rebellion of our southern brethren brought forth the 
Emancipation Proclamation, and has necessarily and forever abolished 
slavery. Yes, one effect of the war has been to "undo the heavy burdens 
and to let the oppressed go free;" to vindicate the principle that liberty is 
the birthright of every man ; and to make that part of the glorious old 
Declaration of Independence that says "all men are created equal," con- 
sistent and harmonious with the facts in the case. 

Finally, I feel assured that those into whose hands this volume may fall 
will not object to the religious portion of the compilation. We gratefully 
remember that our Fathers in the old State House in Philadelphia, when 
about signing the Declaration of Independence that brought down upon 
them the anathemas of crowned heads and thrones, felt the need of God's 
blessing, and called in a venerable minister of religion to read the Bible 
and pray to the God of nations for his benediction on the great work in 
which those patriotic hearts were about to engage. The readers of this 
volume will not forget "Happy is that nation whose God is the Lord;" 
and while they will readily agree that there are national jewels contained 
in this work, they will not deny that our Lord's Sermon on the Mount is 
a Divine Jewel, a pearl of gi'eat price; and should its precepts sink 
deeply into the hearts of my fellow-countrymen, and of all the people of 
the earth, then the shout would be heard everywhere, "Glory to God in the 
highest, and on earth peace, good-will toward men." Praise God that 
" this cruel war is over" in our own counti-y, and we will now unite in 
adopting the language of the Prophet and say, " O Lord, revive thy work 
in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make known ; in wrath 
remember mercy," and in our approaches to God we will say — 

" Strike with thy bolt the next red flag unfurled, 
And make all wars to cease throughout the world." 

A. MANSHIP. 



CONTENTS. 



I. Declaration of Independence ..... 

II. Constitution of the United States, including the proposed Con 
stitutional Amendment ...... 

III. Correspondence of Bishops Asbury and Coke with President 
Washington ........ 

lY. Washington's Farewell Address ..... 

V. Reception of Mr. Lincoln in Independence Hall . 
YI. First Inaugural Address of Abraham Lincoln 
YII. Announcement of the Proclamation of Emancipation 
YIII. Proclamation of Emancipation ..... 

IX. Address of the General Conference to President Lincoln, with 
the Reply of the President ..... 

X. Second Inaugural Address of Abraham Lincoln 
XI. Funeral Solemnities at the White House, Washington . 
XII. Funeral Oration of Bishop Simpson at Springfield 
XIII. National Hymns : 

"The Star-Spangled Banner" . . . 
"Our God is Marching On" (battle Hymn of the Republic 
XIY. A Divine Jewel ! The Lord's Sermon on the Mount . 



15 

34 
31 
56 
58 
69 
IS 

76 
T9 
82 
96 

112 
113 
lU 



THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. 



When, in the course of human events, it becomes neces- 
sary for one people to dissolve the political bands which 
have connected them with another, and to assume, among 
the powers of the earth, the separate and iequal station to 
which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, 
a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that 
they should declare the causes which impel them to the 
separation. 

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are 
created equal ; that they are endowed by their Creator with 
certain unalienable rights; that among these, are life, liberty, 
and the pursuit of happiness. That, to secure these rights, 
governments are instituted among men, deriving their just 
powers from the consent of the governed; that, whenever 
any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, 
it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to 
institute a new government, laying its foundation on such 
principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to 
them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and hap- 
piness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments 
long established, should not be changed for light and tran- 
sient causes ; and, accordingly, all experience hath shown, 
that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are 
sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms 
to which they are accustomed. But, when a long train of 
abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, 
evinces a design to i;educe them under absolute despotism, 
it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such govern- 



10 NATIONAL JEWELS. 

ment, and to provide new guards for their future security. 
Such has been the patient sufferance of these colonies, and 
such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter 
their former systems of government. The history of the 
present king of Great Britain is a history of repeated inju- 
ries and usurpations, all having, in direct object, the estab- 
lishment of an absolute tyranny over these States. To 
prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world : 

He has refused his assent to laws the most wholesome and 
necessary for the public good. 

He has forbidden his Governors to pass laws of immediate 
and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation 
till his assent should be obtained; and, when so suspended, 
he has utterly neglected to attend to them. 

He has refused to pass other laws for the accommodation 
of large districts of people, unless those people would relin- 
quish the right of representation in the legislature ; a right 
inestimable to them, and formidable to tyrants only. 

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, 
uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their pub- 
lic records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into com- 
pliance with his measures. 

He has dissolved representative houses repeatedly, for 
opposing, with manly firmness, his invasions on the rights 
of the people. 

He has refused, for a long time after such dissolutions, 
to cause others to be elected ; whereby the legislative powers, 
incapable of annihilation, have returned to the people at 
large for their exercise ; the State remaining, in the mean 
time, exposed to all the danger of invasion from without, and 
convulsions within. 

He has endeavored to prevent the population of these 
States ; for that purpose, obstructing the laws for naturaliza- 
tion of foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their 
migration hither, and raising the conditions of new appro- 
priations of lands. 



DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. 11 

He has obstructed the administration of justice, by refus- 
ing his assent to laws for estabhshing judiciary powers. 

He has made judges dependent on his will alone, for the 
tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their 
salaries. 

He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither 
swarms of officers to harass our people, and eat out their 
substance. 

He has kept among us, in times of peace, standing armies, 
without the consent of our legislature. 

He has affected to render the military independent of, 
and superior to, the civil power. 

He has combined, with others, to subject us to a jurisdic- 
tion foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by 
our laws ; giving his assent to their acts of pretended legis- 
lation : 

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us : 

For protecting them, by a mock trial, from punishment, 
for any murders which they should commit on the inhabi- 
tants of these States : 

For cutting off our trade with all parts of the world : 

For imposing taxes on us without our consent : 

For depriving us, in many cases, of the benefits of trial 
by jury: 

For transporting us beyond seas to be tried for pretended 
offences : 

For abolishing the free system of English laws in a neigh- 
boring province, establishing therein an arbitrary govern- 
ment, and enlarging its boundaries, so as to render it at 
once an example and fit instrument for introducing the 
same absolute rule into these colonies : 

For taking away our charters, abolishing our most valua- 
ble laws, and altering, fundamentally, the powers of our 
governments: 

For suspending our own legislatures, and declaring them- 



12 NATIONAL JEWELS. 

selves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases 
whatsoever. 

He has abdicated government here, by declaring us out 
of his protection, and waging war against us. 

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our 
towns, and destroyed the lives of our people. 

He is, at this time, transporting large armies of foreign 
mercenaries to complete the works of death, desolation, and 
tyranny, already begun, with circumstances of cruelty and 
perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and 
totally unworthy the head of a civilized nation. 

He has constrained our fellow-citizens, taken captive on 
the high seas, to bear arms against their country, to become 
the executioners of their friends and brethren, or to fall 
themselves by their hands. 

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and 
has endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, 
the merciless Indian savages, whose known rule of warfare 
is an undistinguished destruction, of all ages, sexes, and 
conditions. 

In every stage of these oppressions, we have petitioned 
for redress, in the most humble terms ; our repeated peti- 
tions have been answered only by repeated injury. A 
prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which 
may define a tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people. 

Nor have we been wanting in attention to our British 
brethren. We have warned them, from time to time, of 
attempts made by their legislature to extend an unwarrant- 
able jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the 
circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We 
have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and 
we have conjured them, by the ties of our common kindred, 
to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably inter- 
rupt our connections and correspondence. They, too, have 
been deaf to the voice of justice and consanguinity. We 
must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces 



DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. 13 

our separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of man- 
kind, enemies in war, in peace, friends. 

AVe, therefore, the representatives of the United States 
of America, in General Congress assembled, appealing to 
the Supreme Judge of the World for the rectitude of our 
intentions, do, in the name, and by the authority of the 
good people of these colonies, solemnly publish and declare, 
That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, 
free and independent States; that they are absolved from 
all allegiance to the British crown, and that all political 
connection between them and the state of Great Britain, 
is, and ought to be, totally dissolved; and that, as free and 
independent states, they have full power to levy war, con- 
clude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and to 
do all other acts and things which independent States may 
of right do. And, for the support of this declaration, with 
a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we 
mutually pledge to each other, our lives, our fortunes, and 
our sacred honor. 

The foregoing declaration was, by order of Congress, en- 
grossed, and signed by the following members: — 

JOHN HANCOCK. 

New Hampshire. Samuel Huntington, 

Josiah Bartlett, ^ William Williams, 

William Whipple, Oliver Wolcott. 

Matthew Thornton. 

New York. 
Massachusetts Bay. William Floyd, 

Samuel Adams, Philip Livingston, 

John Adams, Francis Lewis, 

Robert Treat Paine, Lewis Morris. 

Elbridge Gerry. 

New Jersey. 
Rhode Island. Richard Stockton, 

Stephen Hopkins, John Witherspoon, 

William Ellery. Francis Hopkinson, 

John Hart, 
Connecticut. Abraham Clark. 

Roger Sherman, 



14 



NATIONAL JEWELS. 



Pennsylvania. 
Robert Morris, 
Benjamin Rush, 
Benjamin Franklin, 
John Morton, 
George Clymer, 
James Smith, 
George Taylor, 
James Wilson, 
George Ross. 

Delaware. 
Caesar Rodney, 
George Read, 
Thomas M'Kean. 

Maryland. 
Samuel Chase, 
William Paca, 
Thomas Stone, 
Charles Carroll, of Carrollton. 

Virginia. 
George Wythe, 



Richard Henry Lee, 
Thomas Jefferson, 
Benjamin Harrison, 
Thomas Nelson, jr., 
Francis Lightfoot Lee, 
Carter Braxton. 

North Carolina. 
William Hooper, 
Joseph Hewes, 
John Penn. 

Sotith Carolina. 
Edward Rutledge, 
Thomas Heyward, jr., 
Thomas Lynch, jr., 
Arthur Middleton. 

Georgia. 
Button Gwinnett, 
Lyman Hall, 
George Walton. 



Resolved^ That copies of the Declaration be sent to the 
several assemblies, conventions, and committees, or councils 
of safety, and to the several commanding officers of the con- 
tinental troops ; that it be proclaimed in each of the United 
States, and at the head of the army. 



THE CONSTITUTlOxX OF THE UNITED STATES. 



We, the People of the United States, in order to form a 
more perfect union, establish justice, ensure domestic tran- 
quillity, provide for the common defence, promote the 
general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to our- 
selves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this con- 
stitution for tlie United States of America. 

ARTICLE I. 

OF THE LEGISLATIVE POWER. 

Sect. I. All legislative powers, herein granted, shall be 
vested in a congress of the United States, which shall con- 
-sist of a senate and house of representatives. 

Sect. II. 1. The house of representatives shall be com- 
posed of members chosen every second year by the people 
of the several states; and the electors in each state shall 
have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most 
numerous branch of the state legislature. 

2. No person shall be a representative, who shall not 
have attained to the age of twenty-five years, and been 
seven years a citizen of the United States, and who shall 
not, when elected, be an inhabitant of that state in which 
he shall be chosen. 

3. Representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned 
among the several states which may be included within 
this union, according to their respective numbers, which 
shall be determined by adding to the whole number of free 
persons, including those bound to service for a term of 
years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three-fifths of all 



16 NATIONAL JEWELS. 

other persons. The actual enumeration shall be made 
within three years after the first meeting of the congress of 
the United States, and within every subsequent term of ten 
years, in such manner as they shall by law direct. The 
number of representatives shall not exceed one for every 
thirty thousand, but each state shall have at least one 
representative; and, until such enumeration shall be made, 
the state of New Hampshire shall be entitled to choose 
three, Massachusetts eight, Rhode Island and Providence 
Plantations one, Connecticut five. New York six, New 
Jersey four, Pennsylvania eight, Delaware one, Maryland 
six,' Virginia ten, North Carolina five. South Carolina five, 
and Georgia three. 

4. When vacancies happen in the representation from 
any state, the executive authority thereof shall issue writs 
of election, to fill such vacancies. 

5. The house of representatives shall choose their speaker 
and other officers; and shall have the sole power of im- 
peachment. 

Sect. III. 1. The senate of the United States shall be 
composed of two senators from each state, chosen by the 
legislature thereof for six years ; and each senator shall 
have one vote. 

2. Immediately after they shall be assembled, in conse- 
quence of the first election, they shall be divided, as equally 
as may be, into three classes. The seats of the senators 
of the first class shall be vacated at the expiration of the 
second year ; of the second class at the expiration of the 
fourth year; and of the third class at the expiration of the 
sixth year ; so that one-third may be chosen every second 
year. And if vacancies happen by resignation, or other- 
wise, during the recess of the legislature of any state, the 
executive thereof may make temporary appointments, until 
the next meeting of the legislature, which shall then fill 
such vacancies. 

3. No person shall be a senator, who shall not have 



CONSTITUTIONT OF THE UNITED STATES. 17 

attained to the age of thirty years, and been nine years a 
citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when 
elected, be an inhabitant of that state for which he shall 
be chosen. 

4. The vice-president of the United States shall be presi- 
dent of the senate, but shall have no vote, unless they be 
equally divided. 

5. The senate shall choose their other officers, and also 
a president pro tempore in the absence of the vice-presi- 
dent, or when he shall exercise the office of president of 
the United States. 

6. The senate shall have the sole power to try all im- 
peachments. When sitting for that purpose, they shall be 
on oath or affirmation. When the president of the United 
States is tried, the chief justice shall preside. And no 
person shall be convicted, without the concurrence of two- 
thirds of the members present. 

7. Judgment in cases of impeachment shall not extend 
further than to removal from office, and disqualification to 
hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust or profit under the 
United States ; but the party convicted shall, nevertheless, 
be liable and subject to indictment, trial, judgment and 
punishment, according to law. 

Sect. IV. 1. The times, places, and manner of holding 
elections for senators and representatives, shall be pre- 
scribed in each state by the legislature thereof, but the 
congress may at any time, by law, make or alter such regu- 
lations, except as to the places of choosing senators. 

2. Congress shall assemble at least once in every year, 
and such meeting shall be on the first Monday in December, 
unless they shall, by law, appoint a different day. 

Sect. V. 1. Each house shall be the judge of the elec- 
tion returns and qualifications of its own members, and a 
majority of each shall constitute a quorum to do business, 
but a smaller number may adjourn from day to day, and 
may be authorized to compel the attendance of the absent 



18 natiojSTAl jewels. 

members, in such manner, and under such penalties, as 
each house may provide. 

2. Each house may determine the rules of its proceed- 
ings, punish its members for disorderly behavior, and with 
the concurrence of two-thirds, expel a member. 

3. Each house shall keep a journal of its proceedings, 
and from time to time publish the same, excepting such 
parts as may in their judgment require secrecy ; and the 
yeas and nays of members of either house on any question, 
shall, at the desire of one-fifth of those present, be entered 
on the journal. 

4. Neither house, during the session of congress, shall, 
without the consent of the other, adjourn for more than 
three days, nor to any other place, than that in which the 
two houses shall be sitting. 

Sect. VI. 1. The senators and representatives shall re- 
ceive a compensation for their services, to be ascertained 
by law, and paid out of the treasury of the United States. 
They shall in all cases, except treason, felony and breach 
of the peace, be privileged from arrest during their attend- 
ance at the session of their respective houses, and in going 
to, and returning from the same ; and for any speech or 
debate in either house, they shall not be questioned in any 
other place. 

2. No senator or representative shall, during the time 
for which he was elected, be appointed to any civil office 
under the authority of the United States, which shall have 
been created, or the emoluments whereof shall have been 
increased, during such time ; and no person holding any 
office under the United States, shall be a member of either 
house, during his continuance in office. 

Sect. VII. 1. All bills for raising revenue shall originate 
in the house of representatives ; but the senate may propose 
or concur with amendments, as on other bills. 

2. Every bill which shall have passed the house of repre- 
sentatives and the senate, shall, before it become a law, 



CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. 19 

be presented to the president of the United States ; if he 
approve, he shall siijjn it ; but if not, he shall return it, with 
his objections, to that house in which it shall have origi- 
nated, who shall enter the objections at large on their 
journal, and proceed to re-consider it. If, after such re- 
consideration, two-thirds of that house shall agree to pass 
the bill, it shall be sent, together with the objections, to 
the other house, by which it shall likewise be re-considered, 
and, if approved by two-thirds of that house, it shall become 
a law. But in all such cases, the votes of both houses 
shall be determined by yeas and nays, and the names of 
the persons voting for and against the bill shall be entered 
on the journal of each house, respectively. If any bill shall 
not be returned by the president within ten days (Sundays 
excepted) after it shall have been presented to him, the 
same shall be a law in like manner as if he had signed it, 
unless congress, by their adjournment, prevent its return, 
in which case it shall not be a law. 

3. Every order, resolution or vote, to which the concur- 
rence of the senate and house of representatives may be 
necessary (except on a question of adjournment), shall be 
presented to the president of the United States, and before 
the same shall take effect, shall be approved by him, or 
being disapproved by him, shall be re-passed by two-thirds 
of the senate and house of representatives, according to the 
rules and limitations prescribed in the case of a bill. 

Sect. VIII. Congress shall have power — 

1. To lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises, 
to pay the debts, and provide for the common defence and 
general welfare of the United States ; but all duties, im- 
posts and excises, shall be uniform throughout the United 
States ; 

2. To borrow money on the credit of the United States ; 

3. To regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among 
the several states, and with the Indian tribes ; 

4. To establish a uniform rule of naturalization, and uni- 



20 NATIONAL JEWELS. 

form laws on the subject of bankruptcies throughout the 
United States ; 

5. To coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of for- 
eign coin, and fix the standard of weights.and measures; 

6. To provide for the punishment of counterfeiting the 
securities and current coin of the United States ; 

7. To establish post-offices and post-roads ; 

8. To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by 
securing, for limited times, to authors and inventors, the 
exclusive right to their respective writings and discove- 
ries ; 

9. To constitute tribunals inferior to the supreme court ; 

10. To define and punish piracies, felonies committed on 
the high seas, and offences against the law of nations ; 

11. To declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, 
and make rules concerning captures on land and water ; 

12. To raise and support armies; but no appropriation 
of money to that use shall be for a longer term than two 
years ; 

.13. To provide and maintain a navy ; 

14. To make rules for the government and regulation of 
the land and naval forces ; 

15. To provide for calling forth the militia to execute the 
laws of the Union, suppress insurrections, and repel inva- 
sions ; 

16. To provide for organizing, arming and disciplining 
the militia, and for governing such part of them as may be 
employed in the service of the United States, reserving to 
the states, respectively, the appointment of the officers, and 
the authority of training the militia, according to the disci- 
pline prescribed by congress ; 

18. To exercise exclusive legislation, in all cases whatso- 
ever, over such district (not exceeding ten miles square) as 
may, by cession of particular states, and the acceptance of 
congress, become the seat of the government of the United 
States ; and to exercise like authority over all places, pur- 



CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. 21 

chased by the consent of the le<2^islature of the state in which 
the same shall be, for the erection of forts, magazines, arse- 
nals, dockyards, and other needful buildings ; 

18. And to make all laws which shall be necessary and 
proper, for carrying into execution the foregoing powers, 
and all other powers vested by this constitution in the 
government of the United States, or in any department or 
officer thereof. 

Sect. IX. 1. The migration or importation of such per- 
sons, as any of the states now existing shall think proper 
to admit, shall not be prohibited by congress, prior to the 
year one thousand eight hundred and eight ; but a tax or 
duty may be imposed on such importation, not exceeding 
ten dollars for each person. 

2. The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be 
suspended, unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion, 
the public safety may require it. 

3. No bill of attainder, or ex post facto law shall be 
passed. 

4. No capitation, or other direct tax, shall be laid, unless 
in proportion to the census or enumeration, hereinbefore 
directed to be taken. 

5. No tax or duty shall be laid on articles exported from 
any state. No preference shall be given by any regulation 
of commerce or revenue, to the ports of one state over 
those of another ; nor shall vessels bound to or from one 
state be obliged to enter, clear or pay duties in anotlier. 

6. No money shall be drawn from the treasury, but in 
consequence of appropriations made by law ; and a regular 
statement and account of the receipts and expenditures of 
all public money shall be published from time to time. 

7. No title of nobility shall be granted by the United 
States ; and no person, holding any office of profit or trust 
under them, shall, without the consent of congress, accept 
of any present, emolument, office, or title, of any kind what- 
ever, from any king, prince, or foreign state. 



22 NATIONAL JEWELS. 

Sect. X. 1. No state shall enter into any treaty, alliance 
or confederation ; grant letters of marque and reprisal ; coin 
money ; emit bills of credit ; make anything but gold and 
silver coin a tender in the payment of debts ; pass any bill 
of attainder, eoc post facto law, or law impairing the obliga- 
tions of contracts ; or grant any title of nobility. 

2. No state shall, without the consent of congress, lay 
any imposts or duties on imports or exports, except what 
may be absolutely necessary for executing its inspection 
laws ; and the nett produce of all duties and imposts, laid 
by any state on imports or exports, shall be for the use of 
the treasury of the United States ; and all such laws shall 
be subject to the revision and control of congress. No 
state shall, without the consent of congress, lay any duty 
on tonnage, keep troops or ships of war in time of peace, 
enter into any agreement or compact with another state, 
or with a foreign power, or engage in war, unless actually 
invaded, or in such imminent danger as will not admit of 
delay. 

ARTICLE II. 

OF THE EXECUTIVE. 

Sect. I. 1. The executive power shall be vested in a 
president of the United States of America. He shall hold 
his office during the term of four years, and, together with 
the vice-president, chosen for the same term, be elected as 
follows : 

2. Each state shall appoint, in such manner as the legis- 
lature thereof may direct, a number of electors, equal to 
the whole number of senators and representatives to which 
the state may be entitled in congress ; but no senator or 
representative, or person holding an office of trust or profit 
under the United States, shall be appointed an elector. 

3. The electors shall meet in their respective states and 
vote, by ballot, for two persons, of whom one at least shall 
not be an inhabitant of the same state with themselves. 



CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. 23 

And they shall make a list of all the persons voted for, and 
of the number of votes for each ; which list they shall sign 
and certify, and transmit, sealed, to the seat of the govern- 
ment of the United States, directed to the president of the 
senate. The president of the senate shall, in the presence 
of the senate and house of representatives, open all the 
certificates, and the votes shall then be counted. The person 
having the greatest number of votes shall be the president, if 
such number be a majority of the whole number of electors 
appointed ; and if there be more than one who have such 
majority, and have an equal number of votes, then the 
house of representatives shall immediately choose, by ballot, 
one of them for president; and if no person have a majority, 
then, from the five highest on the list, the said house shall, 
in like manner, choose the president, but in choosing the 
president the votes shall be taken by states, the repre- 
sentation from each state having one vote : a quorum for 
this purpose shall consist of a member or members from 
two-thirds of the states, and a majority of all the states shall 
be necessary to a choice. In every case, after the choice 
of the president, the person having the greatest number 
of votes of the electors, shall be the vice-president. But if 
there should remain two or more, who have equal votes, the 
senate shall choose from them, by ballot, the vice-president. 

4. Congress may determine the time of choosing the 
electors, and the day on which they shall give their votes, 
which day shall be the same throughout the United States. 

5. No person, except a natural-born citizen, or a citizen 
of the United States at the time of the adoption of this con- 
stitution, shall be eligible to the office of president ; neither 
shall any person be eligible to that office, who shall not 
have attained to the age of thirty-five years, and been four- 
teen years a resident within the United States. 

6. In case of the removal of the president from office, or 
of his death, resignation, or inability to discharge the powers 



24 NATIONAL JEWELS. 

and duties of the said office, the same shall devolve on the 
vice-president ; and congress may, hy law, provide for the 
case of removal, death, resignation, or inability, both of the 
president and vice-president, declaring what officer shall 
then act as president, and such officer shall act accordingly, 
until the disability be removed, or a president shall be 
elected. 

7. The president shall, at stated times, receive for his 
services a compensation, which shall neither be increased 
nor diminished during the period for which he shall have 
been elected ; and he shall not receive, within that period, 
any other emolument from the United States, or any of 
them. 

8. Before he enter on the execution of his office, he shall 
take the following oath or affirmation: 

" I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully 
execute the office of president of the United States, and 
will, to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend 
the constitution of the United States." 

Sect. II. 1. The president shall be commander-in-chief 
of the army and navy of the United States, and of the 
militia of the several states, when called into the actual 
service of the United States ; he may require the opinion, 
in writing, of the principal officer in each of the executive 
departments, upon any subject relating to the duties of their 
respective offices ; and he shall have power to grant re- 
prieves and pardons for offences against the United States, 
except in cases of impeachment. 

2. He shall have power, by and with the advice and con- 
sent of the senate, to make treaties, provided two-thirds 
of the senators present concur ; and he shall nominate, and, 
by and with the advice and consent of the senate, shall 
appoint ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls, 
judges of the supreme court, and all other officers of the 
United States, whose appointments are not herein other- 
wise provided for, and which shall be established by law. 



CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. 25 

But congress may, by law, vest tlie appointment of such 
inferior officers as they think proper, in the president alone, 
in the courts of law, or in the heads of departments. 

3. The president shall have power to fill up all vacancies 
that may happen during the recess of the senate, by grant- 
ing commissions, which shall expire at the end of their next 
session. 

Sect. III. He shall, from time to time, give to congress 
information of the state of the union, and recommend to 
their consideration such measures as he shall judge neces- 
sary and expedient; he may, on extraordinary occasions, 
convene both houses, or either of them, and in case of dis- 
agreement between them, with respect to the time of 
adjournment, he may adjourn them to such time as he 
shall think proper; he shall receive ambassadors, and other 
public ministers ; he shall take care that the laws be faith- 
fully executed, and shall commission all the officers of the 
United States. 

Sect. IV. The president, vice-president and all civil 
officers of the United States, shall be removed from office 
on impeachment for, and conviction of treason, bribery, or 
other high crimes and misdemeanors. 

ARTICLE III. 

OF THE JUDICIARY. 

Sect. I. The judicial power of the United States shall be 
vested in one supreme court, and in such inferior courts as 
congress may, from time to time, ordain and establish. The 
judges, both of the supreme and inferior courts, shall hold 
their offices during good behavior, and shall, at stated times, 
receive for their services a compensation, which shall not 
be diminished during their continuance in office. 

Sect. II. 1. The judicial power shall extend to all cases 
in law and equity arising under this constitution, the laws 
of the United States, and treaties made, or which shall be 
made, under their authority ; to all cases affecting ambassa- 



26 NATIO^TAL JEWELS. 

dors, other public ministers and consuls; to all cases of 
admiralty and maritime jurisdiction; to controversies to 
which the United States shall be a party ; to controversies 
between two or more states, between a state and a citizen 
of another state, between citizens of different states, between 
citizens of the same state claiming lands under grants of 
different states, and between a state, or the citizens thereof, 
and foreign states, citizens or subjects. 

2. In all cases affecting ambassadors, other public 
ministers and consuls, and those in which a state shall be a 
party, the supreme court shall have original jurisdiction. 
In all the other cases before mentioned, the supreme court 
shall have appellate jurisdiction, both as to law and fact, 
with such exceptions, and under such regulations, as con- 
gress shall make. 

3. The trial of all crimes, except in cases of impeach- 
ment, shall be by jury ; and such trials shall be held in the 
state where the said crime shall have been committed ; but 
when not committed within any state, the trial shall be at 
such place or places as congress may by law have directed. 

Sect. III. 1. Treason against the Unifed States shall 
consist only in levying war against them, or in adhering to 
their enemies, giving them aid and conT,fort. No person 
shall be convicted of treason, unless on the testimony of two 
witnesses to the same overt act, or on confession in open 
court. 

2. Congress shall have power to declare the punishment 
of treason, but no attainder of treason shall work corrup- 
tion of blood, or forfeiture, except during the life of the 
person attainted. 

" ARTICLE lY. 

OF STATE RECORDS. 

Sect. I. Full faith and credit shall be given in each state 
to the public acts, records and judicial proceedings of every 
other state. And congress may, by general laws, prescribe 



CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. 27 

the tnanner in which such acts, records, and proceedings 
shall be proved, and the effect thereof. 

OF CITIZENSHIP. 

Sect. II. 1. The citizens of each state shall be entitled 
to all privileges and immunities of citizens in the several 
states. 

OF FUGITIVES FROM JUSTICT3. 

2. A person charged in any state with treason, felony or 
other crime, who shall flee from justice, and be found in 
another state, shall, on demand of the executive authority 
of the same state from which he fled, be delivered up, to be 
removed to the state having jurisdiction of the crime. 

OF FUGITIVE SLAVES. 

3. T^o person held to service or labor in one state, under 
the law^s thereof, escaping into another, shall, in consequence 
of any law or regulatioil therein, be discharged from such 
service or labor, but shall be delivered up, on claim of the 
party to whom such service or labor may be due. 

OP THE ADMISSION OF NEW STATES. 

Sect. III. 1. New states may be admitted by congress 
into this Union ; but no new state shall be formed or 
erected within the jurisdiction of any other state, nor any 
state be formed by the junction of two or more states, or 
parts of states, without the consent of the legislatures of the 
states concerned, as well as of congress. 

OP TERRITORIES. 

2. Congress shall have power to dispose of, and make all 
needful rules and regulations respecting the territory, or 
other property, belonging to the United States; and 
nothing in this constitution shall be so construed, as to 
prejudice any claims of the United States, or of any par- 
ticular state. 

OP STATE FORMS OF GOVERNMENT. 

Sect. IV. The United States shall guaranty to every 



28 NATIONAL JEWELS. 

state in this union a republican form of government, and 
shall protect each of them against invasion ; and, on applica- 
tion of the legislature, or of the executive (when the legisla- 
ture cannot be convened), against domestic violence. 

ARTICLE V. 

OP AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION. 

Congress, whenever two-thirds of both houses shall deem 
it necessary, shall propose amendments to this constitution, 
or on the application of the legislatures of two-thirds of the 
several states, shall call a convention for proposing amend- 
ments, which, in either case, shall be valid, to all intents 
and purposes, as part of this constitution, when ratified by 
the legislatures of three-fourths of the several states, or by 
conventions in three-fourths thereof, as the one or the other 
mode of ratification may be proposed by congress : Provided^ 
That no amendments which may be made prior to the year 
one thousand eight hundred and eight, shall in any manner 
affect the first and fourth clauses in the ninth section of the 
first article ; and that no state, without its consent, shall be 
deprived of its equal sufi'rage in the senate. 

ARTICLE Yl. 

PUBLIC DEBT. 

Sect, T. All debts contracted, and engagements entered 
into, before the adoption of this constitution, shall be as 
valid against the United States under this constitution, as 
under the confederation. 

or THE SUPREME LAW OF THE LAND. 

Sect. II. This constitution, and the laws of the United 
States, which shall be made in pursuance thereof, and all 
treaties made, or which shall be made under the authority 
of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land ; 
and the judges in every state shall be bound thereby, any 
thing in .the constitution or laws of any state to the contrary 
nothwithst^nding. ' 



CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. 



29 



OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL OATH AND A RELIGIOUS TEST. 

Sect. III. The senators and representatives before men- 
tioned, and the members of the several state legislatures, 
and all executive and judicial officers, both of the United 
States and of the several states, shall be bound, by oath or 
affirmation, to support this constitution ; but no religious 
test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office, or 
public trust, under the United States. 

ARTICLE YII. 

The ratification of the conventions of nine states shall be 
sufficient for the establishment of this constitution, between 
the states so ratifying the same. 

Done in convention by the unanimous consent of the 
states present, the seventeenth day of September, in 
the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and 
eighty-seven, and of the Independence of the United 
States of America the twelfth. In witness whereof, 
we have hereunto subscribed our names. 

GEORGE WASHINGTON, FresUent, 

And Deputy from Virginia. 



New Hampshire. 
John Langdon, 
Nicholas Gilman. 



David Brearly, 
William Patterson, 
Jonathan Dayton. 



Massachiisetls. 
Nathaniel Gorham, 
Rufus King. 

Connecticut. 
William Samuel Johnson, 
Roger Sherman. 

New York. 
Alexander Hamilton. 

Neto Jersey. 
William Livingston, 



Delaware. 
George Rend, 
Gunning Bedford, jr. 
John Dickinson, 
Richard Bassett, 
Jacob Broom. 

Maryland. 
James M'Heiiry, 
Daniel of St. Tho. Jenifer, 
Daniel Carroll. 



NATIONAL JEWELS. 

Virginia. Thomas Fitzsimmons, 

John Blair, Jared Tngersoll, 

James Madison, jr. James Wilson, 

Gouverneur Morris. 
North Carolina. 
William Blount, South Carolina. 

Richard Dobbs Spaight, John Rutlege, 

Hugh Williamson. Charles Cotesworth Pinkney, 

Charles Pinkney, 
Pennsylvania. Pierce Butler. 

Benjamin Franklin, 

Thomas Mifflin, Georgia. 

Robert Morris, William Few, 

George Clymer, Abraham Baldwin. 

Attest. William Jackson, Secretary. 



AMENDMENTS. 

The following articles proposed by Congress, in addition 
to, and amendment of the constitution of the United States, 
having been ratified by the legislatures of the requisite 
number of the states, are become a part of the constitution. 

First Congress. First Session. March 4, 1789. 

Art. I, Congress shall make no law respecting an estab- 
lishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; 
or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the 
right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition 
the government for a redress of grievances. 

Art. II. A well regulated militia being necessary to the 
security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and 
bear arms shall not be infringed. 

Art. "III. No soldier shall in time of peace be quartered 
in any house, without the consent of the owner, nor in time 
of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law. 

Art. IV. The right of the people to be secure in their 
persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable 
searches and seizures, shall not be violated ; and no warrants 
shall issue, but upon probable cause supported by oath or 



CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. 31 

affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be 
searched, and the persons or things to be seized. 

Art, V. No person shall be held to answer for a capital 
or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or 
indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the 
land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual ser- 
vice in time of war or public danger; nor shall any person 
be subject, for the same offence, to be twice put in jeopardy 
of life or limb; nor shall be compelled, in any criminal case, 
to be a witness against himself; nor be deprived of life, 
liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall 
private property be taken for public use, without just com- 
pensation. 

Art. VI. In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall 
enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial 
jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have 
been committed, which district shall have been previously 
ascertained by law; and to be informed of the nature and 
cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses 
against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining 
witnesses in his favor; and to have the assistance of counsel 
for his defence. 

Art. VII. In suits at common law, where the value in 
controversy sliall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial 
by jury shall be preserved; and no fact tried by a jury shall 
be otherwise re-examined in any court of the United States, 
than according to the rules of the common law. 

Art. VIII. Excessive bail shall not be required, nor 
excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments 
inflicted. 

Art. IX. The enumeration in the constitution of certain 
rights shall not be construed to deny or disparage others 
retained by the people. 

Art. X. The powers not delegated to the United States 
by the constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are 
reserved to the states respectively, or to the people. 



32 NATIOI?"AL JEWELS. 

Third Congress. Second Session. December 2, 1793. 

Art. XT. The judicial power of the United States shall 
not be construed to extend to any suit in law or equity, 
commenced or prosecuted against one of the United States 
by citizens of another state, or by citizens or subjects of any 
foreign state. 

Eighth Congress. First Session. October 17, 1803. 

Art. XII. The electors shall meet in their respective 
states, and vote by ballot, for president and vice-president; 
one of whom at least shall not be an inhabitant of the same 
state with themselves; they shall name in their ballots the 
person voted for as president, and in distinct ballots the 
person voted for as vice-president; and they shall make 
distinct lists of all persons voted for as president; and of 
all persons voted for as vice-president, and the number of « 
votes for each; which lists they shall sign and certify, and 
transmit sealed, to the seat of government of the United 
States, directed to the president of the senate; the president 
of the senate shall, in the presence of the senate and house 
of representatives, open all the certificates, and the votes 
shall then be counted; the person having the greatest 
number of votes for president, shall be the president, if such 
number be a majority of the whole number of electors 
appointed. And if no person have such majority, then 
from the persons having the highest numbers, not exceed- 
ing three on the list of those voted for as president, the 
house of representatives shall choose immediately, by ballot, 
the president; but in choosing the president, the votes shall 
be taken by states, the representation from each state hav- 
ing one vote; a quorum for this purpose shall consist of a 
member or members from two-thirds of the states, and a 
majority of all the states shall be necessary to a choice; and 
if the house of representatives shall not choose a president, 
whenever the riglit of choice shall devolve upon them, be- 
fore the fourth day of March next following, then the vice- 



CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. 83 

president shall act as president, as in the case of the death or 
other Constitutional disability of the president. The person 
having the greatest number of votes as vice-president, shall 
be the vice-president, if such number be a majority of the 
whole number of electors appointed; and if no person have 
a majority, then from the two highest numbers on the list, 
the senate shall choose the vice-president; a quorum for the 
purpose shall consist of two-thirds of the whole number of 
senators, and a majority of the whole number shall be neces- 
sary to a choice. But no person constitutionally ineligible 
to the office of president, shall be eligible to that of vice- 
president of the United States. 



Congress having passed the following amendment, when ratified by three-fourths 
of the several states, it will be valid as a part of this Constitution. 

ARTICLE XIIL 

Sect. 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except 
as a punishment for crime, whereof the party shall have 
been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, 
or any place subject to their jurisdiction. 

Sect. 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article 
by appropriate legislation. 



CORRESPOXDEXCE OF BISHOrS ASBURY AKD COKE WITH 
PRESIDENT WASHINGTON. 



[The Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States, early in her 
history, and early in the history of our Republic, showed a loyal bearing, 
which we think should characterize all Christian organizations, thus com- 
plying with the teachings of inspiration : " Let every soul be subject to 
the higher powers;" "Put thera in mind to be subject to principalities 
and powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work." We 
now introduce to our readers the correspondence of the Bishops of the 
M. E. Church with General Washington shortly after his selection as Presi- 
dent of the United States. See Bangs' History of the Methodist Episco- 
pal Church, Vol. I] 

ADDRESS OF THE BISHOPS OF THE M. E. CHURCH TO GENERAL 
WASHINGTON, THE FIRST PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED 
STATES. 

Sir: We, the Bishops of the M. E. Church, humbly beg 
leave, in the name of our society collectively in these Uni- 
ted States, to express to you the warm feelings of our 
hearts, and our sincere congratulations on your appoint- 
ment to the Presidentship of these states. We are con- 
scious from the signal proofs you have already given, that 
you are a friend of mankind ; and under this established 
idea, place as full confidence in your wisdom and integrity 
for the preservation of those civil and religious liberties 
which have been transmitted to us by the providence of 
God and the glorious revolution, as we believe ought to be 
reposed in man. We have received the most grateful satis- 
faction from the humble and entire dependence on the 
great Governor of the universe which you have repeatedly 
expressed, acknowledging Him the source of every blessing, 



THE REPLY OF WASHINGTON. 6D 

and particularly of the most excellent constitution of these 
States, which is at present the admiration of the world, 
and may in future hecome its great exemplar for imitation; 
and hence we enjoy a holy expectation, that yon will 
always prove a faithful and impartial patron of f^enuine, 
vital religion, the grand end of our creation and present 
probationary existence. And we promise you our fervent 
prayers to the Throne of Grace, that God Almighty may 
endue you with all the graces and gifts of his Holy Spirit, 
that he may enable you to fill up your important station 
to his glory, the good of his church, the happiness and 
prosperity of the United States, and the welfare of man- 
kind. 

Signed, in behalf of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 

THOMAS COKE, 
niANCIS ASBURY. 



THE REPLY OF PRESIDENT WASHINGTON TO THE 
BISHOPS OF THE M. E. CHURCH. 

New York, May 29, 1Y89. 
Gentlemen : I return to you individually, and through 
you to your Society collectively in the United States, my 
thanks for the demonstrations of affection and the expres- 
sions of joy, offered in their behalf on my late appoint- 
ment. It shall be my endeavor to manifest the purity of 
my inclinations for promoting the happiness of mankind, as 
well as the sincerity of my desires to contribute whatever 
may be in my power toward the civil and religious liberties 
of the American people. In pursuing this line of conduct, 
I hope, by the assistance of Divine Providence, not alto- 
gether to disappoint the confidence which you have been 
pleased to repose in me. It always affords me satisfaction 
when I find a concurrence of sentiment and practice between 



36 NATIofsTAL JEWELS. 

all conscientioiis'men, in acknowledgments of homage to the 
great Governor of the universe, and in professions of support 
to a just civil government. After mentioning that I trust 
the people of. every denomination, who demean themselves 
as good citizens, will have occasion to be convinced that I 
shall always strive to prove a faithful and impartial patron 
of genuine vital religion — I must assure you in particular, 
that I take in the kindest part the promise you make of 
presenting your prayers at the Throne of Grace for me, and 
that I likewise implore the divine benediction on yourselves 
and your religious community. 

GEORGE WASHINGTON. 



FAEEWELL ADDRESS 



GEORGE WASHINGTON, PRESIDENT, TO THE PEOPLE 
OP THE UNITED STATES, SEPTEMBER 17, 1196. 



Friends and Fellow-Citizens : 

The period for a new election of a citizen to administer 
the Executive Government of the United States being not 
far distant, and the time actually arrived when your thoughts 
must be employed in designating the person who is to be 
clothed with that important trust, it appears to me proper, 
especially as it may conduce to a more distinct expression 
of the public voice, that I should now apprise you of the 
resolution I have formed, to decline being considered among 
the number of those out of whom a choice is to be made. 

I beg you, at the same time, to do me the justice to be 
assured that this resolution has not been taken without a 
strict regard to all the considerations appertaining to the 
relation which binds a dutiful citizen to his country; and 
that, in withdrawing the tender of service, which silence, 
in my situation, might imply, I am influenced by no dimi- 
nution of zeal for your future interest; no deficiency of 
grateful respect for your past kindness; but am supported 
by a full conviction that the step is compatible with both. 

The acceptance of, and continuance hitherto in, the office 
to which your sufl'rages have twice called me, have been a 
uniform sacrifice of inclination to the opinion of duty, and 
to a deference for what appeared to be your desire. I con- 
stantly hoped that it would have been much earlier in my 
power, consistently with motives which I was not at liberty 



88 NATIONAL JEWELS. 

to disregard, to return to that retirement from which I had 
been reluctantly drawn. The strength of my inclination 
to do this, previous to the last election, had even led to the 
preparation of an address to declare it to you; but mature 
reflection on the then perplexed and critical posture of our 
affairs with foreign nations, and the unanimous advice of 
persons entitled to my confidence, impelled me to abandon 
the idea. 

I rejoice that the state of your concerns, external as well 
as internal, no longer renders the pursuit of inclination 
incompatible with the sentiment of duty or propriety; and 
am persuaded, whatever partiality may be retained for my 
services, that, in the present circumstances of our country, 
you will not disapprove my determination to retire. 

The impressions with which I first undertook the arduous 
trust were explained on the proper occasion. In the dis- 
charge of this trust, I will only say, that I have with good 
intentions contributed towards the organization and admi- 
nistration of the Government the best exertions of which a 
very fallible judgment was capable. Not unconscious in 
the outset of the inferiority of ray qualifications, experience, 
in my own eyes — perhaps still more in the eyes of others — 
has strengthened the motives to diffidence of myself; and 
every day the increasing weight of years admonishes me, 
more and more, that the shade of retirement is as necessary 
to me as it will be welcome. Satisfied that if any circum- 
stances have given peculiar value to my services, they were 
temporary, I have the consolation to believe that, while 
choice and prudence invite me to q.uit the political scene, 
patriotism does not forbid it. 

In looking forward to the moment which is intended to 
terminate the career of my public life, my feelings do not 
permit me to suspend the deep acknowledgment of that 
debt of gratitude which I owe to my beloved country for 
the many honors it has conferred upon me; still more for 
the steadfast confidence with which it has supported me; 



TVASniNGTON's FAREWELL ADDRESS. 39 

and for the opportunities I have thence enjoyed of mani- 
festing my inviolable attachment, by services faithful and 
persevering, tliough in usefulness unequal to my zeal. If 
benefits have resulted to our country from these services, 
let it always be remembered to your praise, and as an in- 
structive example in our annals, that, under circumstances 
in which the passions, agitated in every direction, were 
liable to mislead; amidst appearances sometimes dubious, 
vicissitudes of fortune often discouraging; in situations in 
which, not unfrequently, want of success has countenanced 
the spirit of criticism — the constancy of your support was 
the essential prop of the efforts, and a guarantee of the 
plans, by which they were effected. Profoundly penetrated 
with this idea, I shall carry it with me to* my grave, as a strong 
incitement to unceasing vows, that Heaven may continue to 
you the choicest tokens of its beneficence; that your union 
and brotherly affection may be perpetual; that the free 
constitution, which is the work of your hands, may be 
sacredly maintained; that its administration, in every de- 
partment, may be stamped with wisdom and virtue; that, 
in fine, the happiness of the people of these States, under 
the auspices of liberty, may be made complete, by so careful 
a preservation and so prudent a use of this blessing as will 
acquire to them the glory of recommending it to the 
applause, the affection, and the adoption of every nation 
which is yet a stranger to it. 

Here, perhaps, I ought to stop ; but a solicitude for your 
welfare, which cannot end but with my life, and the appre- 
hension of danger natural to that solicitude, urge me, on 
an occasion like the present, to offer to your solemn con- 
templation, and to recommend to your frequent review, 
some sentiments, which are the result of much reflection, 
of no inconsiderable observation, and which appear to me 
all-important to the permanency of your felicity as a people. 
These will be afforded to you with the more freedom, as 
you can only see in them the disinterested warnings of a 



40 NATIONAL JEWELS. 

parting friend, who can possibly have no personal motive 
to bias his counsel ; nor can I forget, as an encouragement 
to it, your indulgent reception of my sentiments on a 
former and not dissimilar occasion. 

Interwoven as is the love of liberty with every ligament 
of your hearts, no recommtnidation of mine is necessary to 
fortify or confirm the attachment. 

The unity of government, which constitutes you one 
people, is also now dear to you. It is justly so ; for it is a 
main pillar in the edifice of your real independence — the 
support of your tranquillity at home, your peace abroad, of 
your safety, of your prosperity, of that very liberty which 
you so highly prize. But as it is easy to foresee that, from 
difi'erent causes and from diflferent quarters, much pains 
will be taken, many artifices employed, to weaken in your 
minds the conviction of this truth ; as this is the point in 
your political fortress against which the batteries of inter- 
nal and external enemies will be most constantly and 
actively (though often covertly and insidiously) directed — 
it is of infinite moment that you should properly estimate |> 
the immense value of your national union to your collective 
and individual happiness ; that you should cherish a cor- 
dial, habitual, and irnmovable attachment to it ; accustom- 
ing yourselves to think and speak of it as of the palladium 
of your political safety and prosperity ; watching for its 
preservation with jealous anxiety; discountenancing what- 
ever may suggest even a suspicion that it can, in any 
event, be abandoned; and indignantly frowning upon the 
first dawning of every attempt to alienate any portion of 
our country from the rest, or to enfeeble the sacred ties 
which now link together the various parts. 

For this you have every inducement of sympathy and 
interest. Citizens by birth or choice, of a common country, 
that country has a right to concentrate your afi"ections. 
The name of American, which belongs to you in your 
national capacity, must always exalt the just pride of patri- 



Washington's farewell address. 41 

otism, more than any appellation derived from local dis- 
criminations. With slight shades of difference, you have 
the same religion, manners, habits, and political principles. 
You have, in a common cause, fought and triumphed 
together ; the independence and liberty you possess are the 
work of joint counsels and joint efforts, of common dangers, 
sufferings, and successes. 

But these considerations, however powerfully they 
address themselves to your sensibility, are greatly out- 
weighed by those which apply more immediately to your 
interest ; here every portion of our country finds the most 
commanding motives for carefully guarding and preserving 
the union of the whole. 

The North, in an unrestrained intercourse with the 
South, protected by the equal laws of a common govern- 
ment, finds, in the productions of the latter, great addi- 
tional resources of maritime and commercial enterprise, and 
precious materials of manufacturing industry. The South, 
in the same intercourse, benefiting by the agency of the 
f North, sees its agriculture grow, and its commerce expand. 
Turning partly into its own channels the seamen of the 
North, it finds its particular navigation invigorated ; and 
w^hile it contributes, in different ways, to nourish and in- 
crease the general mass of the national navigation, it looks 
forward to the protection of a maritime strength to which 
itself is unequally adapted. The East, in like intercourse 
with the West, already finds, and in the progressive im- 
provement of interior communication, by land and water, 
will more and more find, a valuable vent for the commodi- 
ties which it brings from abroad, or manufactures at home. 
The West derives from the East supplies requisite to its 
growth and comfort ; and what is perhaps of still greater 
consequence, it must, of necessity, owe the secure enjoy- 
ment of indispensable outlets for its own productions, to 
the weight, influence, and the future maritime strength of 
the Atlantic side of the Union, directed by an indissoluble 



42 NATIONAL JEWELS. 

community of interest as one nation. Any other tenure 
by which the West can hold this essential advantage, 
whether derived from its own separate strength, or from 
an apostate and unnatural connection with any foreign 
power, must be intrinsically precarious. 

"While, then, every part of our country thus feels an 
immediate and particular interest in union, all the parts 
combined cannot fail to find, in the united mass of means 
and efforts, greater strength, greater resource, proportionably 
greater security from external danger, a less frequent inter- 
ruption of their peace by foreign nations ; and what is of 
inestimable value, they must derive from union an exemp- 
tion from those broils and wars between themselves, which 
so frequently afflict neighboring countries, not tied together 
by the same government ; which their own rivalships alone 
would be sufficient to produce, but which opposite foreign 
alliances, attachments, and intrigues, would stimulate and 
imbitter. Hence, likewise, they will avoid the necessity 
of those overgrown military establishments, which, under 
any form of government, are inauspicious to liberty, and 
which are to be regarded as particularly hostile to republi- 
can liberty ; in this sense it is that your union ought to be 
considered as a main prop of your liberty, and that the love 
of the one ought to endear to you the preservation of the 
other. 

These considerations speak a persuasive language to every 
reflecting and virtuous mind, and exhibit the continuance 
of the Union as a primary object of patriotic desire. Is 
there a doubt, whether a common government can embrace 
so large a sphere 1 Let experience solve it. To listen to 
mere speculation, in such a case, were criminal. We are 
authorized to hope, that a proper organization of the whole, 
with the auxiliary agency of governments for the respective 
subdivisions, will afford a happy issue to the experiment. 
It is well worth a fair and full experiment. With such 
powerful and obvious motives to union, affecting all parts 



WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL ADDRESS. 43 

of our country, wliile experience shall not have demon- 
strated its impracticability, there will always be reason to 
distrust the patriotism of those, who, in any quarter, may 
endeavor to weaken its bands. 

In contemplating the causes which may disturb our Union, 
it occurs, as a matter of serious concern, that any ground 
should have been furnished for characterizing parties by 
geographical discriminations — Northern and Southern — At- 
lantic and Western : whence designing men may endeavor 
to excite a belief that there is a real difference in local 
interests and views. One of the expedients of party to 
acquire influence within particular districts, is to misrepre- 
sent the opinions and aims of other districts. You cannot 
shield yourselves too much against the jealousies and heart- 
burnings which spring from these misrepresentations ; they 
tend to render alien to each other those who ought to be 
bound together by fraternal affection. The inhabitants of 
our western country have lately had a useful lesson on this 
head ; they have seen in the negotiation by the Executive 
and in the unanimous ratification by the Senate, of the 
treaty with Spain, and in the universal satisfaction at that 
event throughout the United States, a decisive proof how 
unfounded were the suspicions propagated among them, of 
a policy in the General Government, and in the Atlantic 
States, unfriendly to their interests in regard to the Missis- 
sippi : they have been witnesses to the formation of two trea- 
ties — that with Great Britain, and that with Spain, which 
secure to them everything they could desire in respect to our 
foreign relations, towards confirming their prosperity. Will 
it not be their wisdom to rely for the preservation of these 
advantages on the Union by which they were procured'? 
Will they not henceforth be deaf to those advisers, if such 
there are, who would sever them from their brethren, and 
connect them with aliens ] 

To the efficacy and permanency of your Union, a govern- 
ment for the whole is indispensable. No alliance, however 



44 NATIONAL JEWELS. 

strict between the parts, can be an adequate substitute ; 
they must inevitably experience the infractions and inter- 
ruptions which all alliances, in all time, have experienced. 
Sensible of this momentous truth, you have improved 
upon your first essay, by the adoption of a Constitution of 
Government better calculated than your former for an inti- 
mate Union, and for the efficacious management of your 
common concerns. This Government, the offspring of our 
own choice, uninfluenced and unawed, adopted upon full 
investigation and mature deliberation, completely free in its 
principles, in the distribution of its powers, uniting security 
with energy, and containing within itself a provision for its 
own amendment, has a just claim to your confidence and 
your support. Respect for its authority, compliance with 
its laws, acquiescence in its measures, are duties enjoined 
by the fundamental maxims of true liberty. The bases of 
our political systems, is the right of the people to make and 
to alter their constitutions of Government : but the Consti- 
tution which at any time exists, till changed by an explicit 
and authentic act of the whole people, is sacredly obligatory 
upon all. The very idea of the power, and the right of the 
people to establish Government, pre-supposes the duty of 
every individual to obey the established Government. 

All obstructions to the execution of the laws, all combi- 
nations and associations, under whatever plausible character, 
with the real design to direct, control, counteract, or awe 
the regular deliberation and action of the constituted 
authorities, are destructive to this fundamental principle, 
and of fatal tendency. They serve to organize faction, to 
give it an artificial and extraordinary force, to put in the 
place of the delegated will of the nation, the will of a party, 
often a small but artful and enterprising minority of the 
community ; and, according to the alternate triumphs of 
different parties, to make the public administration the 
mirror of the ill- concerted and incongruous projects of fac- 
tion, rather than the organ of consistent and wholesome 



Washington's farewell address. 45 

plans, digested by common counsels, and modified by mutual 
interests. 

However combinations or associations of the above de- 
scription may now and then answer popular ends, they are 
likely, in the course of time and things, to become potent 
engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled 
men, will be enabled to subvert the power of the people, 
and to usurp for themselves the reins of Government ; de- 
stroying, afterwards, the very engines which had lifted them 
to unjust dominion. 

Towards the preservation of your Government, and the 
permanency of your present happy state, it is requisite, not 
only that you steadily discountenance irregular oppositions 
to its acknowledged authority, but also that you resist with 
care the spirit of innovation upon its principles, however 
specious the pretexts. One method of assault may be to 
effect, in the forms of the Constitution, alterations which 
wdll impair the energy of the system, and thus to undermine 
what cannot be directly overthrown. In all the changes 
to which you may be invited, remember that time and habit 
are at least as necessary to fix the true character of govern- 
ments as of other human institutions ; that experience is the 
surest standard by which to test the real tendency of the 
existing constitution of a country ; that facility in changes, 
upon the credit of mere hypothesis and opinion, exposes to 
perpetual change, from the endless variety of hypothesis and 
opinion ; and remember, especially, that for the efficient 
management of your common interests, in a country so ex- 
tensive as ours, a Government of as much vigor as is con- 
sistent with the perfect security of liberty, is indispensable. 
Liberty itself will find in such a Government, with powers 
properly distributed and adjusted, its surest guardian. It 
is, indeed, little else than a name, where the Government 
is too feeble to withstand the enterprises of faction, to con- 
fine each member of the society within the limits prescribed 



46 NATIONAL JEWELS. 

by the laws, and to maintain all in the secure and tranquil 
enjoyment of the rights of person and property. 

I have already intimated to you the danger of parties in 
the State, with particular reference to the founding of them 
on geographical discriminations. Let me now take a more 
comprehensive view, and warn you, in the most solemn 
manner, against the baneful effects of the spirit of party 
generally. 

This spirit, unfortunately, is inseparable from our nature, 
having its root in the strongest passions of the human mind. 
It exists under different shapes, in all governments, more 
or less stifled, controlled, or repressed ; but in those of the 
popular form it is seen in its greatest rankness, and is truly 
their worst enemy. 

The alternate domination of one faction over another, 
sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissen- 
sion, which, in different ages and countries, has perpetrated 
the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism. 
But this leads, at length, to a more formal and permanent 
despotism. The disorders and miseries which result, grad- 
ually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose 
in the absolute power of an individual ; and, sooner or later, 
the chief of some prevailing faction, more able or more 
fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the 
purposes of his own elevation on the ruins of public liberty. 

Without looking forward to an extremity of this kind, 
(which, nevertheless, ought not to be entirely out of sight), 
the common and continual mischiefs of the spirit of party 
are sufficient to make it the interest and duty of a wise 
people to discourage and restrain it. 

It serves always to distract the public councils, and enfee- 
ble the public administration. It agitates the community 
with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms; kindles the 
animosity of one part against another; foments, occasionally, 
riot and insurrection. It opens the door to foreign influ- 
ence and corruption, which find a facilitated access to the 



4 

Washington's farewell address. 47 

Government itself, through the cliannels of party passions. 
Thus the policy and the will of one country are subjected 
to the policy and will of another. 

There is an opinion that parties, in free countries, are 
useful checks upon the administration of the Government, 
and serve to keep alive the spirit of liberty. This, within 
certain limits, is probably true; and in Governments of a 
monarchical cast, patriotism may look with indulgence, if not 
with favor, upon the spirit of party. But in those of the 
popular character, in Governments purely elective, it is a 
spirit not to be encouraged. From their natural tendency, 
it is certain there will always be enough of that spirit for 
every salutary purpose. And there being constant danger 
of excess, the effort ought to be, by force of public opinion, 
to mitigate and assuage it. A fire not to be quenched, it 
demands a uniform vigilance to prevent its bursting into a 
flame, lest, instead of warming, it should consume. 

It is important, likewise, that the habits of thinking, in 
a free country, should inspire caution in those intrusted with 
its administration, to confine themselves within their re- 
spective constitutional spheres, avoiding, in the exercise of 
the powers of one department, to encroach upon another. 
The spirit of encroachment tends to consolidate the powers 
of all the departments in one, and thus to create, whatever 
the form of Government, a real despotism. A just estimate 
of that love of power, and proneness to abuse it which pre- 
dominates in the human heart, is sufficient to satisfy us of 
the truth of this position. The necessity of reciprocal 
checks in the exercise of political power, by dividing and 
distributing it into different depositories, and constituting 
each the guardian of the public weal, against invasions by 
the others, has been evinced by experiments, ancient and 
modern ; some of them in our own country, and under our 
own eyes. To preserve them must be as necessary as to 
institute them. If, in the opinion of the people, the distri- 
bution or modification of the constitutional powers be, in 



48 NATIONAL JEWELS. 

any particular, wrong, let it be corrected by an amendment 
in the way which the Constitution designates. But let 
there be no change by usurpation ; for though this, in one 
instance, may be the instrument of good, it is the customary 
weapon by which free Governments are destroyed. The 
precedent must always greatly overbalance, in permanent 
evil, any partial or transient benefit which the use can, at 
any time, yield. 

/ Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political 
prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. 
In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism, who 
should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happi- 
ness, these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens. 
The mere politician, equally with the pious man, ought to 
respect and to cherish them. A volume could not trace all 
their connections with private and public felicity. Let it 
simply be asked, where is the security for property, for 
reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert 
the oaths which are the instruments of investigation in 
courts of justice'? And let us with caution indulge the 
supposition, that morality can be maintained without 
religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of 
refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason 
and experience both forbid us to expect that national mo- 
rality can prevail in exclusion of religious principles. 
v/ It is substantially true, that virtue or morality is a neces- 
sary spring of popular Government. The rule, indeed, 
extends with more or less force to every species of free 
Government. Who, that is a sincere friend to it, can look 
with indiff'erence upon attempts to shake the foundation of 
the fabric'? 

Promote, then, as an object of primary importance, insti- 
tutions, for the general diftusion of knowledge. In propor- 
tion as the structure of a Government gives force to public 
opinion, it is essential that public opinion should be enlight- 
ened. 



WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL ADDRESS. 49 

As a very important source of strength and security, 
cherish public credit. One method of preserving it is to 
use it as sparingly as possible; avoiding occasions of expense 
by cultivating peace, but remembering also that timely 
disbursements to prepare for danger, frequently prevent 
much greater disbursements to repel it; avoiding, likewise, 
the accumulation of debt, not only by shunning occasions 
of expense, but by vigorous exertions in time of peace to 
discharge the debts which unavoidable wars may have occa- 
sioned; not ungenerously throwing upon posterity the bur- 
den which we ourselves ought to bear. The execution of 
these maxims belongs to your representatives, but it is 
necessary that public opinion should co-operate. To facili- 
tate to them the performance of their duty, it is essential 
that you should practically bear in mind, that towards the 
payment of debts there must be revenue; that to have 
revenue there must be taxes; that no taxes can be devised, 
which are not more or less inconvenient and impleasant; 
that the intrinsic embarrassment inseparable from the selec- 
tion of the proper objects (which is always a choice of 
difficulties), ought to be a decisive motive for a candid con- 
struction of the conduct of the Government in making it, 
and for a spirit of acquiescence in the measures for obtaining 
revenue, which the public exigencies may at any time 
dictate. 

Observe good faith and justice towards all nations; cul- 
tivate peace and harmony with all; religion and morality 
enjoin this conduct; and can it be that good policy does 
not equally enjoin if? It will be worthy of a free, enlight- 
ened, and, at no distant period, a great nation, to give to 
mankind the magnanimous and too novel example of a 
people always guided by an exalted justice and benevolence. 
Who can doubt that, in the course of time and things, the 
fruits of such a plan would richly repay any temporary 
advantages which might be lost by a steady adherence to 
it 1 Can it be that Providence has not connected the per- 



50 NATIONAL JEWELS. 

manent felicity of a nation with its virtue ] The experiment, 
at least, is recommended by every sentiment which ennobles 
human nature. Alas J it is rendered impossible by its vices'? 

In the execution of such a plan, nothing is more essential 
than that permanent inveterate antipathies against particu- 
lar nations, and passionate attachments for others, should 
be excluded; and that, in place of them, just and amicable 
feelings toward all should be cultivated. The nation which 
indulges towards another an habitual hatred, or an habitual 
fondness, is, in some degree, a slave. It is a slave to its 
animosity or to its affection ; either of which is sufficient 
to lead it astray from its duty and its interest. Antipathy 
in one nation against another, disposes each more readily 
to offer insult and injury, to lay hold of slight causes of 
umbrage, and to be haughty and intractable, when acci- 
dental or trifling occasions of dispute occur. Hence fre- 
quent collisions, obstinate, envenomed, and bloody contests. 
The nation, prompted by ill will and resentment, sometimes 
impels to war the Government, contrary to the best calcu- 
lations of policy. The Government sometimes participates 
in the national propensity, and adopts, through passion, 
what reason would reject; at other times it makes the ani- 
mosity of the nation subservient to projects of hostility, 
instigated by pride, ambition, and other sinister and perni- 
cious motives. The peace often, sometimes perhaps the 
liberty, of nations has been the victim. 

So, likewise, a passionate attachment of one nation to 
another produces a variety of evils. Sympathy for the 
favorite nation, facilitating the illusion of an imaginary 
common interest, in cases where no real common interest 
exists, and infusing into one the enmities of the other, 
betrays the former into a participation in the quarrels and 
wars of the latter, without adequate inducement or justifi- 
cation. It leads also to concessions to the favorite nation 
of privileges denied to others, which is apt doubly to injure 
the nation making the concessions; by unnecessarily parting 



Washington's farewell address. 51 

with what ought to have been retained, and by exciting 
jealousy, ill will, and a disposition to retaliate, in the parties 
from whom equal privileges are withheld; and it gives to 
ambitious, corrupted, or deluded citizens (who devote them- 
selves to the favorite nation) facility to betray, or sacrifice 
the interest of their own country, without odium; sometimes " 
even with popularity; gilding with the appearance of a 
virtuous sense of obligation, a commendable deference for 
public opinion, or a laudable zeal for public good, the base 
or foolish compliances of ambition, corruption, or infatua- 
tion. 

As avenues to foreign influence in innumerable ways, 
such attachments are particularly alarming to the truly 
enlightened and independent patriot. How many oppor- 
tunities do they aff'ord to tamper with domestic fections, 
to practise the art of seduction, to mislead public opinion, 
to influence or awe the public councils! Such an attach- 
ment of a small or weak, towards a great and powerful nation, 
dooms the former to be the satellite of the latter. 

Against the insidious wiles of. foreign influence (I conjure 
you to believe mej fellow-citizens) the jealousy of a free 
people ought to be constantly awake; since history and 
experience prove that foreign influence is one of the most 
baneful foes of republican Government. But that jealousy, 
to be useful, must be impartial; else it becomes the instru- 
ment of the very influence to be avoided, instead of a defence 
against it. Excessive partiality for one foreign nation, and 
excessive dislike for another, cause those whom they actuate 
to see danger only on one side, and serve to veil, and even 
second, the arts of influence on the other. Real patriots, 
who may resist the intrigues of the favorite, are liable to 
become suspected and odious; while its tools and dupes 
usurp the applause and confidence of the people, to surren- 
der their interests. 

The great rule of conduct for us, in regard to foreign 
■ nations, is, in extending our commercial relations, to have 



52 NATIONAL JEWELS. 

with them as little political connection as possible. So far 
as we have already formed engagements, let them be fulfilled 
with perfect good faith. Here let us stop. 

Europe has a set of primary interests, which to us have 
none, or a very remote relation. Hence she must be 
engaged in frequent controversies, the causes of which are 
essentially foreign to our concerns. Hence, therefore, it 
must be unwise in us to implicate ourselves, by artificial 
ties, in the ordinary vicissitudes of her politics, or the 
ordinary combinations and collisions of her friendships or 
enmities. 

Our detached and distant situation invites and enables 
us to pursue a difi'erent course. If we remain one people, 
under an efficient Government, the period is not far off 
when we may defy material injury from external annoyance; 
when we may take such an attitude as will cause the neu- 
trality we may at any time resolve upon, to be scrupulously 
respected; when belligerent nations, under the impossibility 
of making acquisitions upon us, will not lightly hazard the 
giving us provocation ; when we may choose peace or war, 
as our interest, guided by justice, shall counsel. 

Why forego the advantages of so peculiar a situation'? 
Why quit our own to stand upon foreign ground] Why, 
by interweaving our destiny with that of any part of Europe, 
entangle our peace and prosperity in the toils of European 
ambition, rivalship, interest, humor, or caprice 1 

It is our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliances 
with any portion of the foreign world; so far, I mean, as 
we are now at liberty to do it ; for let me not be understood 
as capable of patronizing infidelity to existing engagements. 
I hold the maxim no less applicable to public than to 
private aff'airs, that honesty is always the best policy. I 
repeat it, therefore, let those engagements be observed in 
their genuine sense. But, in my opinion, it is unnecessary 
and would be unwise to extend them. 

Taking care always to keep ourselves, by suitable establish- 



Washington's farewell address. 53 

ments, on a respectable defensive posture, we may safely 
trust to temporary alliances for extraordinary emergencies. 

Plarmony, and a liberal intercourse with all nations, are 
recommended by policy, humanity, and interest. But even 
our commercial policy should hold an equal and impartial 
hand ; neither seeking nor granting exclusive favors or 
preferences ; consulting the natural course of things ; dif- 
fusing and diversifying, by gentle means, the streams of 
commerce, but forcing nothing ; establishing, with powers 
so disposed, in order to give trade a stable course, to define 
the rights of our merchants, and to enable the Government 
to support them, conventional rules of intercourse, the best 
that present circumstances and mutual opinions will permit, 
but temporary, and liable to be, from time to time, aban- 
doned or varied, as experience and circumstances shall 
dictate ; constantly keeping in view, that it is folly in one 
nation to look for disinterested favors from another; that 
it must pay, with a portion of its independence, for what- 
ever it may accept under that character ; that by such ac- 
ceptance it may place itself in the condition of having given 
equivalents for nominal favors, and yet of being reproached 
with ingratitude for not giving more. There can be no 
greater error than to expect, or calculate upon, real favors 
from nation to nation. It is an illusion which experience 
must cure, which a just pride ought to discard. 

In offering to you, my countrymen, these counsels of an 
old and affectionate friend, I dare not hope they will make 
the strong and lasting impression I could wish ; that they 
will control the usual current of the passions, or prevent 
our nation from running the course which has hitherto 
marked the destiny of nations ; but if I may even flatter 
myself that they may be productive of some partial benefit, 
some occasional good ; that they may now and then recur 
to moderate the fury of party spirit, to warn against the 
mischiefs of foreign intrigues, to guard against the impos- 
tures of pretended patriotism ; this hope will be a full re- 



54 NATIONAL JEWELS. 

compensefor the solicitude for your welfare by which they 
have been dictated. 

How far, in the discharge of my official duties, I have 
been guided by the principles which have been delineated, 
the public records, and other evidences of my conduct, 
must witness to you and the world. To myself, the assur- 
ance of my own conscience is, that I have at least believed 
myself to be guided by them. 

In relation to the still subsisting war in Europe, my 
proclamation of the 22d of April, 1793, is the index to my 
plan. Sanctioned by your approving voice, and by that of 
your Representatives in both Houses of Congress, the spirit 
of that measure has continually governed me, uninflu- 
enced by any attempts to deter or divert me from it. 

After deliberate examination, with the aid of the best 
lights I could obtain, I was well satisfied that our country, 
under all the circumstances of the case, had a right to take, 
and was bound in duty and interest to take, a neutral posi- 
tion. Having taken it I determined, as far as should 
depend upon me, to maintain it with moderation, perseve- 
rance, and firmness. 

The considerations which respect the right to hold this 
conduct, it is not necessary on this occasion to detail. I 
will only observe, that, according to my understanding of 
the matter, that right, so far from being denied by any of 
the belligerent powers, has been virtually admitted by all. 

The duty of holding a neutral conduct may be inferred, 
without anything more, from the obligation which justice 
and humanity impose on every nation, in cases in which 
it is free to act, to maintain inviolate the relations of peace 
and amity towards other nations. 

The inducements of interest, for observing that conduct, 
will best be referred to your own reflections and experi- 
ence. With me, a predominant, motive has been to en- 
deavor to gain time to our country to settle and mature its 
yet recent institutions, and to progress, without interrup- 



Washington's farewell address. 65 

tion, to that degree of strength and consistency which is 
necessary to give it, humanly speaking, the command of its 
own fortunes. 

Though in reviewing the incidents of my administration, 
I am unconscious of intentional error; I am, nevertheless, 
too sensible of my defects not to think it probable that I 
may have committed many errors. Whatever they may 
be, I fervently beseech the Almighty to avert or mitigate 
the evils to which they may tend. I shall also carry with 
me the hope, that my country will never cease to view 
them with indulgence ; and that, after forty-five years of 
my life dedicated to its service with an upright zeal, the 
faults of incompetent abilities will be consigned to oblivion, 
as myself must soon be to the mansions of rest. 

Relying on its kindness in this, as in other things, and 
actuated by that fervent love towards it which is so natural 
to a man who views in it the native soil of himself and his 
progenitors for several generations, I anticipate, with 
pleasing expectation, that retreat in which I promise my- 
self to realize, without alloy, the sweet enjoyment of par- 
taking, in the midst of my fellow-citizens, the benign 
influence of good laws under a free Government — the ever 
favorite object of my heart — and the happy reward, as I 
trust, of our mutual cares, labors, and dangers. 

GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

United States, 11th September, 1796. 



RECEPTION OF MR. LINCOLN IN PHILADELPHIA- 
INDEPENDENCE HALL. 



Mr. Lincoln's reception in Philadelphia en route for Washington to 
take his seat as President, was exceedingly cordial on the part of the 
municipal authorities, and indeed the people generally were delighted to 
see the President elect, of whom they had only known and heard " by the 
hearing of the ear." On the morning of the 22d of February, 1861, he 
visited the old Independence Ilall, for the purpose of raising the national 
flag over it. There he was received with a warm welcome, and made the 
following address : — 

" I am filled with deep emotion at finding myself stand- 
ing here, in this place, where were collected the wisdom, 
the patriotism, the devotion to principle, from which sprang 
the institutions under which we live. You have kindly- 
suggested to me that in my hands is the task of restoring 
peace to the present distracted condition of the country. I 
can say in return, sir, that all the political sentiments I 
entertain have been drawn, so far as I have been able to 
draw them, from the sentiments which originated and were 
given to the world from this hall. I have never had a feel- 
ing politically that did not spring from the sentiments em- 
bodied in the Declaration of Independence. I have often 
pondered over the dangers which were incurred by the men 
who assembled here, and framed and adopted that Declara- 
tion of Independence. I have pondered over the toils that 
were endured by the officers and soldiers of the army who 
achieved that independence. I have often inquired of my- 
self what great principle or idea it was that kept this Con- 
federacy so long together. It was not the mere matter of 
the separation of the colonies from the mother-land, but that 
sentiment in the Declaration of Independence which gave 
liberty, not alone to the people of this country, but, I hope, 



EECEPTION OF MR, LINCOLN IN PHILADELPHIA. 57 

to the world for all future time. It was that which gave 
promise that in due time the weight would be lifted from 
the shoulders of all men. This is a sentiment embodied in 
the Declaration of Independence. Now, my friends, can 
this country be saved upon this basis 1 If it can, I will 
consider myself one of the happiest men in the world if I 
can help to save it. If it cannot be saved upon that prin- 
ciple, it will be truly awful. But if this country cannot be 
saved without giving up that principle, I was about to say I 
would rather he assassinated on this spot than surrender it. 
Now, in my view of the present aspect of affairs, there 
need be no bloodshed or war. There is no necessity for it. 
I am not in favor of such a course, and I may say, in 
advance, that there will be no blood shed unless it be forced 
npon the government, and then it will be compelled to act 
in self-defence. 

" My friends, this is wholly an unexpected speech, and I 
did not expect to be called upon to say a word when I 
came here. I supposed it was merely to do something 
towards raising the flag. I may, therefore, have said some- 
thing indiscreet. I have said nothing but what I am will- 
ing to live by, and, if it be the pleasure of Almighty God, 
to die by." 

At the platform in front of the State House, Mr. Benton, of the Select 
Council, invited the President elect to raise the flag. Mr. Lincoln re- 
sponded in a brief speech, stating his cheerful compliance with the request, 
and alluded to the original flag of thirteen stars, saying that the number 
had increased as time rolled on, and we became a happy and powerful 
people, each star adding to its prosperity. " The future," he added, " is 
in the hands of the people. It is on such an occasion as this that we can 
reason together, reaffirm our devotion to the country and the principles 
of the Declaration of Independence. Let us make up our mind, that when 
we do put a new star upon our banner it shall be a fixed one, never to be 
dimmed by the horrors of war, but brightened by the contentment and 
prosperity of peace. Let us go on to extend the area of our usefulness, 
add star upon star, until their light shall shine upon five hundred millions 
of free and happy people." The President elect then raised the starry 
banner to the top of the staff, amid the long and loud cheering of a 
delighted people. 



FIRST INAUGURAL ADDRESS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 



" Fellow-Citizens of the United States : In compli- 
ance with a custom as old as the Government itself, I appear 
before you to address you briefly, and to take, in your pre- 
sence, the oath prescribed by the Constitution of the United 
States to be taken by the President before he enters on the 
execution of his office. 

" I do not consider it necessary, at present, for me to dis- 
cuss those matters of administration about which there is no 
special anxiety or excitement. Apprehension seems to exist 
among the people of the Southern States, that, by the acces- 
sion of a Republican Administration, their property and their 
peace and personal security are to be endangered. There 
has never been any reasonable cause for such apprehension. 
Indeed, the most ample evidence to the contrary has all the 
while existed, and been open to their inspection. It is found 
in nearly all the published speeches of him who now addresses 
you. I do but quote from one of those speeches, when I 
declare that ' I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to 
interfere with the institution of slavery in the States where 
it exists.' I believe I have no lawful right to do so ; and I 
have no inclination to do so. Those who nominated and 
elected me, did so with the full knowledge that I had made 
this, and made many similar declarations, and had never 
recanted them. And, more than this, they placed in the 
platform, for my acceptance, and as a law to themselves and 
to me, the clear and emphatic resolution which I now 
read : — 

" ' Resolved^ That the maintenance inviolate of the rights 



FIRST INAUGURAL ADDRESS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 59 

of the States, and especially the right of each State to order 
and control its own domestic institutions according to its own 
judgment exclusively, is essential to that balance of power 
on which the perfection and endurance of our political fabric 
depend ; and we denounce the lawless invasion, by armed 
force, of the soil of any State or Territory, no matter under 
what pretext, as among the gravest of crimes.' 

" I now reiterate these sentiments ; and in doing so, I 
only press upon the public attention the most conclusive 
evidence of which the case is susceptible, that the property, 
peace and security of no section are to be in anywise endan- 
gered by the now incoming administration. 

"I add, too, that all the protection which, consistently 
with the Constitution and the laws, can be given, will be 
cheerfully given to all the States when lawfully demanded, 
for whatever cause, as cheerfully to one section as to an- 
other. 

" There is much controversy about the delivering up of 
fugitives from service or labor. The clause I now read is 
as plainly written in the Constitution as any other of its 
provisions : — 

" ' No person held to service or labor in one State under 
the laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in consequence 
of any law or regulation therein, be discharged from such 
service or labor, but shall be delivered up on claim of the 
party to whom such service or labor may be due.' 

" It is scarcely questioned that this provision was intended 
by those who made it for the reclaiming of what we call 
fugitive slaves ; and the intention of the lawgiver is the 
law. 

" All members of Congress swear their support to the 
whole Constitution — to this provision as well as any other. 
To the proposition, then, that slaves whose cases come within 
the terms of this clause ' shall be delivered up,' their oaths 
are unanimous. Now, if they would make the effort in 
good temper, could they not, with nearly equal unanimity, 



60 NATIONAL JEWELS. 

frame and pass a law by means of which to keep good that 
unanimous oath"? 

" There is some difference of opinion whether this clause 
should be enforced by National or by State authority ; but 
surely that difference is not a very material one. If the slave 
is to be surrendered, it can be of but little consequence to 
him or to others by which authority it is done ; and should 
any one, in any case, be content that this oath shall go 
unkept on a merely unsubstantial controversy as to how it 
shall be kepf? 

" Again, in any law upon this subject, ought not all the 
safeguards of liberty known in civilized and humane juris- 
prudence to be introduced, so that a free man be not, in 
any case, surrendered as a slave ] And might it not be well 
at the same time to provide by law for the enforcement of 
that clause in the Constitution which guarantees that ' the 
citizens of each State shall be entitled to all the privileges 
and immunities of citizens in the several States]' 

" I take the official oath to day with no mental reserva- 
tions, and with no purpose to construe the Constitution or 
laws by any hypercritical rules ; and while I do not choose 
now to specify particular acts of Congress as proper to be 
enforced, I do suggest that it will be much safer for all, both 
in official and private stations, to conform to and abide by 
all those acts which stand unrepealed, than to violate any 
of them, trusting to find impunity in having them held to 
be unconstitutional. 

" It is seventy-two years since the first inauguration of a 
President under our National Constitution. During that 
period, fifteen different and very distinguished citizens have 
in succession administered the executive branch of the 
Government. They have conducted it through many perils, 
and generally with great success. Yet, with all this scope 
for precedent, I now enter upon the same task, for the brief 
constitutional term of four years, under great and peculiar 
difficulties. 



FIRST INAUGURAL ADDRESS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 61 

" A disruption of the Federal Union, heretofore only 
menaced, is now formidably attempted. I hold that in the 
contemplation of universal law and of the Constitution, the 
Union of these States is perpetual. Perpetuity is implied, 
if not expressed, in the fundamental law of all national 
governments. It is safe to assert that no government proper 
ever had a provision in its organic law for its own termina- 
tion. Continue to execute all the express provisions of our 
National Constitution, and the Union will endure forever, 
it being impossible to destroy it, except by some action not 
provided for in the instrument itself. 

"Again, if the United States be not a government proper, 
but an association of States in the nature of a contract 
merely, can it, as a contract, be peaceably unmade by less 
than all the parties who made it ] One party to a contract 
may violate it — break it, so to speak ; but does it not require 
to all lawfully rescind if? Descending from these general 
principles, we find the proposition that in legal contempla- 
tion the Union is perpetual, confirmed by the history of the 
Union itself. 

" The Union is much older than the Constitution. It 
was formed, in fact, by the Articles of Association in 1774. 
It was matured and continued in the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence in 1776. It was further matured, and the faith 
of all the then thirteen States expressly plighted and 
engaged that it should be perpetual, by the Articles of the 
Confederation, in 1778; and finally, in 1787, one of the 
declared objects for ordaining and establishing the Consti- 
tution was to form a more perfect Union. But if the de- 
struction of the Union by one or by a part only of the States 
be lawfully possible, the Union is less than before, the 
Constitution having lost the vital element of perpetuity. 

" It follows from these views that no State, upon its own 
mere motion, can lawfully get out of the Union ; that re- 
solves and ordinances to that eff'ect, are legally void ; and 
that acts of violence within any State or States against the 



62 NATIONAL JEWELS. 

authority of the United States, are insurrectionary or revo- 
lutionary, according to circumstances. 

" I therefore consider that, in view of the Constitution 
and the laws, the Union is unbroken, and, to the extent of 
my ability, I shall take care, as the Constitution itself ex- 
pressly enjoins upon me, that the laws of the Union shall be 
faithfully executed in all the States. Doing this, which I 
deem to be only a simple duty on my part, I shall perfectly 
perform it, so far as is practicable, unless my rightful 
masters, the American people, shall withold the requisition, 
or in some authoritative manner direct the contrary. 

" I trust this will not be regarded as a menace, but only 
as the declared purpose of the Union that it will constitu- 
tionally defend and maintain itself 

" In doing this there need be no bloodshed or violence, 
and there shall be none unless it is forced upon the National 
authority. 

" The power confided to me will he used to hold, occupy, 
and possess the property and places belonging to the Govern- 
ment, and collect the duties and imposts ; but beyond what 
may be necessary for these objects there will be no invasion, 
no using of force against or among the people anywhere. 

"Where hostility to the United States shall be so great 
and so universal as to prevent competent resident citizens 
from holding Federal offices, there will be no attempt to 
force obnoxious strangers among the people that object. 
While the strict legal right may exist of the Government 
to enforce the exercise of these ofiices, the attempt to do 
so would be so irritating, and so nearly impracticable withal, 
that I deem it best to forego, for the time, the uses of such 
offices. 

" The mails, unless repelled, will continue to be furnished 
in all parts of the Union. 

" So far as possible, the people everywhere shall have that 
sense of perfect security which is most favorable to calm 
thought and reflection. 



FIRST INAUGURAL ADDRESS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 63 

" The course here indicated will be followed, unless cur- 
rent events and experience shall show a modification or 
change to be proper ; and in every case and exigency my 
best discretion will be exercised according to the circum- 
stances actually existing, and with a view and hope of a 
peaceful solution of the National troubles, and the restora- 
tion of fraternal sympathies and affections. 

" That there are persons, in one section or another, who 
seek to destroy the Union at all events, and are glad of any 
pretext to do it, I will neither affirm nor deny. But if 
there be such, I need address no word to them. 

" To those, however, who really love the Union, may I 
not speak, before entering upon so grave a matter as the 
destruction of our National fabric, with all its benefits, its 
memories, and its hopes 1 Would it not be well to ascer- 
tain why we do it 1 Will you hazard so desperate a step, 
while any portion of the ills you fly from have no real exist- 
ence'? Will you, while the certain ills you fly to are 
greater than all the real ones you fly from 1 Will you risk 
the commission of so fearful a mistake 1 All profess to be 
content in the Union if all constitutional rights can be main- 
tained. Is it true, then, that any right, plainly written in 
the Constitution, has been denied '? I think not. Happily 
the human mind is so constituted, that no party can reach 
to the audacity of doing this. 

" Think, if you can, of a single instance in which a 
plainly-written provision of the Constitution has ever been 
denied. If, by the mere force of numbers, a majority should 
deprive a minority of any clearly-written constitutional 
right, it might, in a moral point of view, justify revolution; 
it certainly would, if such right were a vital one. But such 
is not our case. 

" All the vital rights of minorities and of individuals are 
so plainly assured to them by affirmations and negations, 
guaranties and prohibitions in the Constitution, that contro- 
versies never arise concerning them. But no organic law 



64: NATIOl^AL JEWELS. 

can ever be framed with a provision specifically applicable 
to every question which may occur in practical administra- 
tion. No foresight can anticipate, nor any document of 
reasonable length contain, express provisions for all possible 
questions. Shall fugitives from labor be surrendered by 
National or by State authorities 1 The Constitution does 
not expressly say. Must Congress protect slavery in the 
Territories'? The Constitution does not expressly say. 
From questions of this class, spring all our constitutional 
controversies, and we divide upon them into majorities and 
minorities. 

" If the minority will not acquiesce, the majority must, 
or the Government must cease. There is no alternative for 
continuing the Government but acquiescence on the one 
side or the other. If a minority in such a case will secede 
rather than acquiesce, they make a precedent which, in turn, 
will ruin and divide them, for a minority of their own will 
secede from them whenever a majority refuses to be con- 
trolled by such a minority. For instance, why not any por- 
tion of a new Confederacy, a year or two hence, arbitrarily 
secede again, precisely as portions of the present Union now 
claim to secede from it ^ All who cherish disunion senti- 
ments are now being educated to the exact temper of doing 
this. Is there such perfect identity of interests among the 
States to compose a new Union as to produce harmony 
only, and prevent renewed secession ] Plainly, the central 
idea of secession is the essence of anarchy. 

"A majority held in restraint by constitutional check and 
limitation, and always changing easily with deliberate 
changes of popular opinions and sentiments, is the only 
true sovereign of a free people. Whoever rejects it, does, 
of necessity, fly to anarchy or to despotism. Unanimity is 
impossible ; the rule of a majority, as a permanent arrange- 
ment, is wholly inadmissible. So that, rejecting the 
majority principle, anarchy or despotism, in some form, is 
all that is left. 



FIRST INAUGURAL ADDRESS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 65 

" I do not forget the position assumed by some that con- 
stitutional questions are to be decided by the Supreme 
Court, nor do I deny that such decisions must be binding 
in any case upon the parties to a suit, as to the object of 
that suit, while they are also entitled to a very high respect 
and consideration in all parallel cases by all other depart- 
ments of the Government; and while it is obviously 
possible that such decision may be erroneous in any given 
case, still the evil effect following it, being limited to that 
particular case, with the chance that it may be overruled 
and never become a precedent for other cases, can better be 
borne than could the evils of a different practice. 

"At the same time the candid citizen must confess that 
if the policy of the Government upon the vital question 
affecting the whole people is to be irrevocably fixed by the 
decisions of the Supreme Court, the instant they are made, 
as in ordinary litigation between parties in personal actions, 
the people will have ceased to be their own masters, unless 
having to that extent practically resigned their Govern- 
ment into the hands of that eminent tribunal. 

" Nor is there in this view any assault upon the Court or 
the Judges. It is a duty from which they may not shrink, 
to decide cases properly brought before them ; and it is no 
fault of theirs if others seek to turn their decisions to 
political purposes. One section of our country believes 
slavery is right and ought to be extended, while the other 
believes it is wrong and ought not to be extended ; and this 
is the only substantial dispute ; and the fugitive slave 
clause of the Constitution, and the law for the suppression 
of the foreign slave-trade, are each as well enforced, 
perhaps, as any law can ever be in a community where the 
moral sense of the people imperfectly supports the law 
itself. The great body of the people abide by the dry legal 
obligation in both cases, and a few break over in each. This, 
I think, cannot be perfectly cured, and it would be worse 
in both cases after the separation of the sections than 



66 NATIOISTAL JEWELS. 

before. The foreign slave-trade, now imperfectly sup- 
pressed, would be ultimately revived, without restriction, in 
one section ; while fugitive slaves, now only partially sur- 
rendered, would not be surrendered at all by the other. 

" Physically speaking, we cannot separate ; we cannot 
remove our respective sections from each other, nor build 
an impassable wall between them. A husband and wife 
may be divorced, and go out of the presence and beyond 
the reach of each other, but the different parts of our 
country cannot do this. They cannot remain face to face; 
and intercourse, either amicable or hostile, must continue 
between them. Is it possible, then, to make that inter- 
course more advantageous or more satisfactory after separa- 
tion than before'? Can aliens make treaties easier than 
friends can make laws? Can treaties be more faithfully 
enforced between aliens than laws can among friends ? Sup- 
pose you go to war, you cannot fight always ; and when, 
after much loss on both sides, and no gain on either, you 
cease fighting, the identical questions as to terms of inter- 
course are again upon you. 

"This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people 
who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the 
existing Government, they can exercise their constitutional 
right of amending, or their revolutionary right to dismember 
or overthrow it. I cannot be ignorant of the fact that many 
worthy and patriotic citizens are desirous of having the 
National Constitution amended. While I make no recom- 
mendation of amendment, I fully recognize the full authority 
of the people over the whole subject, to be exercised in 
either of the modes prescribed in the instrument itself, and 
I should, under existing circumstances, favor rather than 
oppose, a fair opportunity being afforded the people to act 
upon it. 

" I will venture to add, that to me the Convention mode 

seems preferable, in that it allows amendments to originate 

. with the people themselves, instead of only permitting them 



FIRST INAUGURAL ADDRESS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 67 

to take or reject propositions originated by others not espe- 
cially chosen for the purpose, and which might not be pre- 
cisely such as they would wish either to accept or refuse. I 
understand that a proposed amendment to the Constitution 
(which amendment, however, I have not seen) has passed 
Congress, to the effect that the Federal Government shall 
never interfere with the domestic institutions of States, 
including that of persons held to service. To avoid mis- 
construction of what I have said, I depart from my purpose 
not to speak of particular amendments, so far as to say that, 
holding such a provision to now be implied constitutional 
law, I have no objection to its being made express and 
irrevocable. 

'•The Chief Magistrate derives all his authority from the 
people, and they have conferred none upon him to fix the 
terms for the separation of the States. The people them- 
selves, also, can do this if they choose, but the Executive, 
as such, has nothing to do with it. His duty is to adminis- 
ter the present Government as it came to his hands, and to 
transmit it unimpaired by him to his successor. "Why 
should there not be a patient confidence in the ultimate 
justice of the people I Is there any better or equal hope in 
the world ? In our present differences is either party with- 
out faith of being in the right '? If the Almighty Ruler of 
nations, with his eternal truth and justice, be on your side 
of the North, or on yours of the South, that truth and that 
justice will surely prevail by the judgment of his great tri- 
bunal, the American people. By the frame of the Govern- 
ment under which we live, this same people have wisely 
given their public servants but little power for mischief, and 
have with equal wisdom provided for the return of that 
little to their own hands at very short intervals. While 
the people retain their virtue and vigilance, no administra- 
tion, by any extreme wickedness or folly, can very seriously 
injure the government in the short space of four years. 

" My countrymen, one and all, think calmly and well upon 



68 NATIONAL JEWELS. 

this whole subject. Nothing valuable can be lost by taking 
time. 

" If there be an object to hurry any of you, in hot haste, 
to a step which you would never take deliberately, that 
object will be frustrated by taking time : but no good object 
can be frustrated by it. 

" Such of you as are now dissatisfied, still have the old 
Constitution unimpaired, and on the sensitive point, the 
laws of your own framing under it; while the new adminis- 
tration will have no immediate power, if it would, to change 
either. 

"If it were admitted that you who are dissatisfied hold 
the right side in the dispute, there is still no single reason 
for precipitate action. Intelligence, patriotism, Christianity, 
and a firm reliance on Him who has never yet forsaken this 
favored land, are still competent to adjust, in the best way, 
all our present difficulties. 

" In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow-countrymen, and 
not in mine, is the momentous issue of civil war. The 
Government will not assail you. 

"You can have no conflict without being yourselves the 
aggressors. You have no oath registered in Heaven to 
destroy the Government; while I shall have the most 
solemn one to 'preserve, protect, and defend' it. 

"I am loath to close. We are not enemies, but friends. 
We must not be enemies. Though passion may have 
strained, it must not break our bonds of aftection. 

" The mystic cords of memory, stretching from every 
battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and 
hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the 
chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they* 
will be, by the better angels of our nature." 



AMOUKCEMENT OF THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION. 



I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States of 
America, and Commander-in-chief of the Army and Navy 
thereof, do hfereby proclaim and declare, that hereafter, as 
heretofore, the war will be prosecuted for the object of 
practically restoring the constitutional relation between the 
United States and the people thereof, in those States in 
-which that relation is, or may be, suspended or disturbed ; 
that it is my purpose, upon the next meeting of Congress, 
to again recommend the adoption of a practical measure 
tendering pecuniary aid to the free acceptance or rejection 
of all the Slave States, so-called, the people whereof may 
not then be in rebellion against the United States, and 
which States may then have voluntarily adopted, or there- 
after may voluntarily adopt, the immediate or gradual 
abolishment of slavery within their respective limits, and 
that the effort to colonize persons of African descent, with 
their consent, upon the continent or elsewhere, with the 
previously obtained consent of the government existing 
there, will be continued ; that on the first day of January, 
in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and 
sixty- three, all persons held as slaves within any State, or 
any designated part of a State, the people whereof shall 
then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be 

THEN, THENCEFORWARD AND FOREVER FREE, and the ExCCUtivO 

Government of the United States, including the military 
and naval authority thereof, will recognize and maintain 
the freedom of such persons, and will do no act or acts to 
repress such persons, or any of them, in any efforts they 



70 NATIONAL JEWELS. 

may make for their actual freedom ; that the Executive 
will, on the first da^'^ of January aforesaid, by proclamation, 
designate the States and parts of States, if any, in which 
the people thereof respectively shall be in rebellion against 
the United States ; and the fact that any State, or the 
people thereof, shall on that day be in good faith represented 
in the Congress of the United States by members chosen 
thereto, at elections wherein a majority of the qualified 
voters of such State shall have participated, shall, in the 
absence of strong countervailing testimony, be deemed con- 
clusive evidence that such State and the people thereof 
have not been in rebellion against the United States. 

" That attention is hereby called to an Act of Congress, 
entitled, 'An act to make an additional article of war,' ap- 
proved March 13, 1862, and which act is in the words and 
figures following : — 

"'^e it enacted hy the Senate and House of Representatives 
of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, That 
hereafter the following shall be promulgated as an additional 
Article of War for the government of the Army of the 
United States, and shall be observed and obeyed as such. 

''^'■Article — . All officers or persons of the military or 
naval service of the United States, are prohibited from em- 
ploying any of the forces under their respective commands 
for the purpose of returning fugitives from service or labor 
who may have escaped from any persons to whom such 
service or labor is claimed to be due ; and any officer who 
shall be found guilty by a court-martial of violating this 
article, shall be dismissed from the service. 

^''^ Section 2. And be it further enacted, That this act 
shall take effect from and after its passage.' 

"Also to the ninth and tenth sections of an act entitled, 
*An act to suppress insurrection, to punish treason and re- 
bellion, to seize and confiscate property of rebels, and for 
other purposes,' approved July 17, 1862, and which sections 
are in the words and figures following : — 



ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION. 71 

^^^ Section 9. And be it further enacted, That all slaves 
of persons who shall hereafter be engaged in rebellion 
against the Government of the United States, or who shall 
in any way give aid or comfort thereto, escaping from such 
persons and taking refuge within the lines of the army ; 
and all slaves captured from such persons or deserted by 
them, and coming under the control of the Government of 
the United States, and all slaves of such persons found on 
(or being within) any place occupied by rebel forces, and 
afterwards occupied by the forces of the United States, shall 
be deemed captives of war, and shall be forever free of their 
servitude, and not again held as slaves. 

^^' Section 10. And be it further enacted, That no slave 
escaping into any State, Territory, or the District of 
Columbia, from any of the States, shall be delivered up, or 
in any way impeded or hindered of his liberty, except for 
crime, or some offence against the laws, unless the person 
claiming said fugitive shall first make oath that the person 
to whom the labor or service of such fugitive is alleged to 
be due, is his lawful owner, and has not been in arms against 
the United States in the present rebellion, nor in any way 
given aid and comfort thereto ; and no person engaged in 
the military or naval service of the United States shall, 
under any pretence whatever, assume to decide on the 
validity of the claim of any person to the service or labor 
of any other person, or surrender up any such person to 
the claimant, on pain of being dismissed from the service.' 

"And I do hereby enjoin upon, and order all persons 
engaged in the military and naval service of the United 
States to observe, obey, and enforce within their respective 
spheres of service the act and sections above recited. 

"And the executive will in due time recommend that 
all citizens of the United States, who shall have remained 
loyal thereto throughout the rebellion, shall (upon the res- 
toration of the constitutional relation between the United 
States and their respective States and people, if the relation 



72 NATIONAL JEWELS. 

shall have been suspended or disturbed) be compensated 
for all losses by acts of the United States, including the 
loss of slaves. 

" In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and 
caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. 

" Done at the city of Washington, this twenty-second 
day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand 
eight hundred and sixty-two, and of the Independence of 
the United States the eighty-seventh. 

" By the President : ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

"WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State." 



PROCLAMATION OF EMANCIPATION. 



Whereas, On the twenty-second day of September, in 
the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty- 
two, a proclamation was issued by the President of the 
United States, containing, among other things, the follow- 
ing, to wit : 

That on the first day of January, in the year of our 
Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, all per- 
sons held as slaves within any State, or any designated part 
of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion 
against the United States, shall be thenceforward and for- 
ever free, and the Executive Government of the United 
States, including the military and naval authority thereof, 
will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons, 
and will do no act or acts to repress such persons, or any of 
them, in any efforts they may make for their actual freedom. 

That the Executive will, on the first day of January 
aforesaid, by proclamation, designate the States and parts of 
States, if any, in which the people thereof respectively shall 
then be in rebellion against the United States, and the fact 
that any State, or the people thereof, shall on that day be in 
good fiiith represented in the Congress of the United States 
by members chosen thereto at elections wherein a majority 
of the qualified voters of such State shall have participated, 
shall, in the absence of strong countervailing testimony, be 
deemed conclusive evidence that such State and the people 
thereof are not then in rebellion against the United States. 

Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the 
United States, by virtue of the power in me vested as Com- 



74 NATIONAL JEWELS. 

mander-in-chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, 
in time of actual armed rebellion against the authority and 
Government of the United States, and as a fit and necessary 
war measure for repressing said rebellion, do, on this first 
day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight 
hundred and sixty-three, and in accordance with my purpose 
so to do, publicly proclaimed for the full period of one hun- 
dred days from the day of the first above-mentioned order, 
designate, as the States and parts of States wherein the 
people thereof respectively are this day in rebellion against 
the United States, the following, to wit : Arkansas, Texas, 
Louisiana, except the parishes of St. Bernard, Plaquemines, 
Jefferson, St. John, St, Charles, St. James, Ascension, As- 
sumption, Terre Bonne, Lafourche, St. Mary, St. Martin, 
and Orleans, including the city of New Orleans, Mississippi, 
Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, 
and Virginia, except the forty-eight counties designated as 
West Virginia, and also the counties of Berkeley, Accomac, 
Northampton, Elizabeth City, York, Princess Ann, and 
Norfolk, including the cities of Norfolk and Portsmouth, 
and which excepted parts are, for the present, left precisely 
as if this proclamation were not issued. 

And by virtue of the power and for the purpose afore- 
said, 1 do order and declare that all persons held as slaves 
within said designated States and parts of States are, and 
henceforward shall be free ; and that the Executive Govern- 
ment of the United States, including the military and naval 
authorities thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom 
of said persons. 

And I hereby enjoin upon the people so declared to be 
free, to abstain from all violence, unless in necessary self- 
defence, and I recommend to them, that in all cases, when 
allowed, they labor faithfully for reasonable wages. 

And I further declare and make known that such per- 
sons of suitable condition will be received into the armed 
service of the United States to garrison forts, positions, 



PROCLAMATION OF EMANCIPATION. 75 

stations, and other places, and to man vessels of all sorts in 
said service. 

And upon this, sincerely believed to be an act of justice, 
warranted by the Constitution, upon military necessity, I 
invoke the considerate judgment of mankind and the 
gracious favor of Almighty God. 

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and 
caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. 

Done at the city of Washington,' this first day of 
January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hun- 
dred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the United 
States the eighty-seventh. 

By the President : ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

W. H. Seward, Secretary of State. 



ADDRESS OF THE GENERAL CONFERENCE TO PRESIDENT 
LINCOLN, WITH THE REPLY OF THE. PRESIDENT. 



To His Excellency Abraham Lincoln, President of the United 
States. 

The General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church, now in session in the city of Philadelphia, repre- 
senting nearly seven thousand ministers and nearly a 
million of members, mindful of their duty as Christian 
citizens, takes the earliest opportunity to express to you 
the assurance of the loyalty of the Church, her earnest 
devotion to the interests of the coimtry, and her sympathy 
with you in the great responsibilities of your high position 
in this trying hour. 

With exultation we point to the record of our church as 
having never been tarnished by disloyalty. She was the 
first of the Churches to express, by a deputation of her 
most distinguished ministers, the promise of support to the 
Government in the days of Washington. In her Articles 
of Religion she has enjoined loyalty as a duty, and has ever 
given to the government her most decided support. 

In this present struggle for the nation's life, many thou- 
sands of her members, and a large number of her ministers, 
have rushed to arms to maintain the cause of God and 
humanity. They have sealed their devotion to their 
country with their blood on every battle-field of this terri- 
ble war. 

We regard this dreadful scourge now desolating our land 
and wasting the nation's life as the result of a most un- 
natural, utterly unjustifible rebellion, involving the crime 



ADDRESS OF GENERAL CONFERENCE. 77 

of treason against the best of human governments and sin 
against God. It required our government to submit to its 
own dismemberment and destruction, leaving it no alterna- 
tive but to preserve the national integrity by the use of the 
national resources. If the government had failed to use 
its power to preserve the unity of the nation and maintain 
its authority, it would have been justly exposed to the 
wrath of heaven, and to the reproach and scorn of the 
civilized world. 

Our earnest and constant prayer is, that this cruel and 
wicked rebellion may be speedily suppressed ; and we 
pledge you our hearty co-operation in all appropriate means 
to secure this object. 

Loyal and hopeful in national adversity, in prosperity 
thankful, we most heartily congratulate you on the glorious 
victories recently gained, and rejoice in the belief that our 
complete triumph is near. 

We believe that our national sorrows and calamities 
have resulted in a great degree from our forgetfulness of 
God and oppression of our fellow-men. Chastened by 
affliction, may the nation humbly repent of her sins, lay 
aside her haughty pride, honor God in all future legislation, 
and render justice to all who have been wronged. 

We honor you for your proclamations of liberty, and 
rejoice in all the acts of the government designed to secure 
freedom to the enslaved. 

We trust that when military usages and necessities shall 
justify interference with established institutions, and the 
removal of wrongs sanctioned by law, the occasion will be 
improved, not merely to injure our foes and increase the 
national resources, but also as an opportunity to recognize 
our obligations to God and to honor his law. We pray 
that the time may speedily come when this shall be truly 
a republican and free country, in no part of which, either 
state or territory, shall slavery be known. 

The prayers of millions of Christians, with an earnest- 



/ NATIONAL JEWELS. 

ness never manifested for rulers before, daily ascend to 
heaven that you may be endued with all needed wisdom 
and power. Actuated by the sentiments of the loftiest and 
purest patriotism, our prayer shall be continually for the 
preservation of our country undivided, for the triumph of 
our cause, and for a permanent peace, gained by the sacri- 
fice of no moral principles, but founded on the word of 
God, and securing in righteousness liberty and equal rights 
to all. 

Signed in behalf of the General Conference of the Metho- 
dist Episcopal Church. 

Respectfully submitted, 

JOSEPH CUMMINGS, Chairman. 

Philadelphia, May 14, 1864. 



PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S REPLY TO THE ADDRESS. 

Gentlemen: In response to your address allow me to 
attest the accuracy of its historical statements, indorse the 
sentiments it expresses, and thank you in the nation's name 
for the sure promise it gives. 

Nobly sustained as the government has been by all the 
Churches, I would utter nothing which might in the least 
appear invidious against any. Yet without this it may 
fairly be said that the Methodist Episcopal Church, not 
less devoted than the best, is, by its greater numbers, the 
most important of all. It is no fault in others that the 
Methodist Church sends more soldiers to the field, more 
nurses to the hospitals, and more prayers to heaven than 
any. God bless the Methodist Church ! bless all the 
Churches ! and blessed be God ! who in this our great trial 
giveth us the Churches. 

[Signed] A. LINCOLN. 



SECOND INAUGURAL ADDRESS OF ABRAHAM LmCOLK 



Fellow-Countrtmen : At this second appearing to 
take the oath of the Presidential office, there is less occasion 
for an extended address than there was at the first. Then 
a statement somewhat in detail of a course to be pursued 
seemed very fitting and proper. Now, at the expiration of 
four years, during which public declarations have constantly 
been called forth on every point and phase of the great 
contest which still absorbs the attention, and engrosses the 
energies of the nation, little that is new could be presented. 

The progress of our arms, upon which all else chiefly 
depends, is as well known to the public as to myself, and 
it is, I trust, reasonably satisfactory and encouraging to all. 
With high hope for the future, no prediction in regard to 
it is ventured. On the occasion corresponding to this four 
years ago, all thoughts were anxiously directed to an im- 
pending civil war. All dreaded it, all sought to avoid it. 
While the inaugural address was being delivered from this 
place, devoted altogether to saving the Union without war, 
insurgent agents were in the city seeking to destroy it 
without war ; seeking to dissolve the Union and divide the 
effects by negotiation. 

Both parties deprecated war, but one of them would 
make war rather than let the nation survive, and the 
other would accept war rather than let it perish, and the 
war came. 

One-eighth of the whole population were colored slaves, 
not distributed generally over the Union, but located in the 
southern part of it. These slaves constituted a peculiar 



80 ' NATIONAL JEWELS. 

and powerful interest. All knew that this interest was 
somehow the cause of the war. To strengthen, perpetuate 
and extend this interest was the object for which the insur- 
gents would rend the Union by war, while the Government 
claimed no right to do more than to restrict the territorial 
enlargement of it. Neither party expected the magnitude 
or the duration which it has already attained. Neither 
anticipated that the cause of the conflict might cease, even 
before the conflict itself should cease. Each looked for an 
easier triumph and a result less fundamental and astound- 
ing. Both read the same Bible, and pray to the same God, 
and each invokes his aid against the other. It may seem 
strange that any man should dare to ask a just God's assist- 
ance in wringing his bread from the sweat of other men's 
faces. But let us "judge not, that we be not judged." 

The prayer of both should not be answered. That of 
neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has his 
own purposes. " Woe unto the world because of offences, 
for it must needs be that offences come, but woe to that 
man by whom the offence cometh." If we shall suppose 
that American slavery is one of these offences, which, in 
the providence of God, must needs come, but which, having 
continued through his appointed time, he now wills to 
remove, and that he gives to both North and South this 
terrible war as the woe due to those by whom the offence 
came, shall we discern therein any departure from those 
Divine attributes which the believers in a living God 
always ascribe to him ? 

Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray that this 
mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if 
God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the 
bondman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil 
shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn by the 
lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was 
said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said, that 
the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. 



SECOND INAUGURAL ADDRESS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 81 

With malice towards none, with charity for all, with 
firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let 
us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the 
nation's wound, to care for him who shall have borne the 
battle, and for his widow and his orphans, to do all which 
may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among 
ourselves and with all nations. 



FUNERAL SERVICES OF MR. LINCOLN AT THE WHITE HOUSE, 
THE CAPITOL OF THE NATION. 



Mr. Lincoln was assassinated on the night of the 14th of April, 1865. 

At 12 o'clock, noon, April, 19th, 1865, the room was filled with weep- 
ing'friends, the President and Cabinet having entered last. 

Rev. Dr. Gurley, of the Presbyterian Church, whose church Mr, 
Lincoln and family generally attended in Washington, announced the 
order of exercises. 

Rev. Dr. Hall read, very impressively, the funeral services of the 
EpiscojDal Church, commencing "I am the resurrection and the life, &c." 

This solemn service was followed by a fervent extemporaneous prayer, 
by Rev. Bishop Simpson, of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 

THE BISHOP'S PRAYER. 

Almighty God, our Heavenly Father, as with smitten 
and suffering hearts we come into Thy presence, we pray, 
in the name of our blessed Redeemer, that Thou wouldst 
pour upon us Thy Holy Spirit, that all our thoughts and acts 
may be acceptable in Thy sight. We adore Thee for all 
Thy glorious perfections. We praise Thee for the revelation 
which Thou hast given us in Thy works and in Thy Word. 
By thee all worlds exist. All beings live through Thee. 
Thou raisest up kingdoms and empires, and castest them 
down. By Thee kings reign, and princes decree righteous- 
ness. In Thy hand are the issues of life and death. We 
confess before Thee the magnitude of our sins and trans- 
gressions, both as individuals and as a nation. We implore 
Thy mercy for the sake of our Redeemer. Forgive us all 
our iniquities. If it please Thee, remove Thy chastening 
hand from us, and, though we be unworthy, turn away 



FUXERAL SOLEMNITIES AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 83 

from us Thine anger, and let the light of Thy countenance 
again shine upon us. 

At this solemn hour, as we mourn for the death of our 
President, who was stricken down by the hand of an assassin, 
grant us also the grace to bow in submission to Thy holy 
will. May we recognize thy hand high above all human 
agencies, and thy power as controlling all events, so that 
"the wrath of man shall praise Thee, and that the remainder 
of wrath thou wilt restrain." Humbled under the suflferin<r 

a 

we have endured and the great afflictions through which 
we have passed, may we not be called upon to offer other 
sacrifices. May the lives of all our officers, both civil and 
military, be guarded by Thee; and let no violent hand fall 
upon any of them. Mourning, as we do, for the mighty 
dead by whose remains we stand, we would yet lift our 
hearts unto Thee in grateful acknowledgment for Thy 
kindness in giving us so great and noble a President. Thou 
art glorified in good men, and we praise Thee that Thou 
didst give him unto us so pure, so honest, so sincere, and 
so transparent in character. We praise Thee for that kind, 
affectionate heart, which always swelled with feelings of 
enlarged benevolence. We bless Thee for what Thou didst 
enable him to do; that Thou didst give him wisdom to select 
for his advisers and for his officers, military and naval, those 
men through whom our country has been carried triumph- 
antly through an unprecedented conflict. 

We bless Thee for the success which has attended all 
their efforts, and for the victories which have crowned our 
armies; and that Thou didst spare Thy servant until he 
could behold the dawning of that glorious morning of peace 
and prosperity which is about to shine upon our land; that 
he was enabled to go up as Thy servant of old upon Mount 
Pisgah, and catch a glimpse of the promised land. Though 
his lips are silent and his arm is powerless, we thank Thee 
that Thou didst strengthen him, to speak words that cheer 
the hearts of the suffering and the oppressed; and to write 



84 NATIONAL JEWELS. 

that declaration of emancipation which has given him an 
immortal record; that though the hand of the assassin has 
struck him to the ground, it could not destroy the work 
which he has done, nor forge again the chains which he has 
broken. And while we mourn that he has passed away, 
we are grateful that his work was so fully accomplished, 
and that the acts which he has performed will forever 
remain. 

We implore Thy blessing upon his bereaved family. 
Thou husband of the widow, bless her who, broken-hearted 
and sorrowing, feels oppressed with unutterable anguish. 
Cheer the loneliness of the pathway which lies before her, 
and grant to her such consolations of Thy Spirit, and such 
hopes through the resurrection, that she shall feel that 
"Earth hath no sorrows which Heaven cannot heal." 

Let Thy blessings rest upon his sons; pour upon them 
the spirit of wisdom. Be Thou the guide of their youth; 
prepare them for usefulness in society, for happiness in all 
their relations. May the remembrance of their father's 
counsels and their father's noble acts ever stimulate them to 
glorious deeds, and at last may they be heirs of everlasting 
life. 

Command Thy richest benedictions to descend upon the 
successor of our lamented President. Grant unto him wis- 
dom, energy, and firmness for the responsible duties to 
w^hich he has been called. May he not only be a praise to 
them that do well, but may he so be a terror to evil doers as 
not to bear the sword in vain. May he, his cabinet, officers 
and generals who shall lead his armies, and the brave sol- 
diers in the field, be so guided by Thy counsels that they 
shall speedily complete the great work which he had so 
successfully carried forward. 

Let Thy blessing rest upon our country. Grant unto us 
all a fixed and strong determination never to cease our 
efforts until our glorious Union shall be fully re-established. 

Around the remains of our loved President may we cove- 



FUNERAL SOLEMNITIES AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 85 

nant together by every possible means to give ourselves to 
our country's service until every vestige of this rebellion 
shall have been wiped out, and until slavery, its cause, shall 
be forever eradicated, and freedom shall reign from the 
Lakes to the Gulf, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific. 

Preserve us, we pray Thee, from all complications with 
foreign nations. Give us hearts to act justly toward all 
nations, and grant unto them hearts to act justly toward us, 
that universal peace and happiness may fill our earth. We 
rejoice that in this afflicting dispensation Thou hast given 
an additional evidence of the strength of our nation. We 
bless Thee that no tumult has arisen, that there has been 
no conflict for power, and that in peace and harmony our 
Government moves onward; and that Thou hast shown, 
through us, to all nations that Republics possess every ele- 
ment of strength, and that, in the midst of this terrible trial, 
our Government is the strongest on the face of the earth. 

In this solemn presence may we feel that we too are 
mortal. May the sense of our responsibility to God rest 
upon us; may we repent of every sin; and may we conse- 
crate anew unto Thee all the time, and all the talents which 
Thou hast given us ; and may we so fulfil our allotted duties 
that finally we may have communion with the good and wise 
and great, who now surround Thy glorious throne ! Hear us 
while we unite in praying with Thy Church in all lands, 
and in all ages, even as Thou hast taught us, saying — 

Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name. 
Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth as it is in 
heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive 
us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not 
into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the 
kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen. 



86 NATIONAL JEWELS. 



FUNERAL ORATION, BY REY. DR. GURLEY, OF THE 
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 

As we stand here to-day mourners around this coffin, 
and around the lifeless remains of our beloved Chief Magis- 
trate, we recognize and we adore the sovereignty of God. 
His throne is in the heavens, and his kingdom riileth over 
all. He hath done and hath permitted to be done whatso- 
ever He pleased. Clouds and darkness are round about 
Him; righteousness and judgment are the habitation of 
His throne. His way is in the sea and His path in the 
great waters, and His footsteps are not known. Canst thou 
by searching find out God? Canst thou find out the 
Almighty unto perfection? It is as high as heaven. 
What canst thou do? Deeper than hell. What canst 
thou know? The measure thereof is longer than the 
earth and broader than the sea. K He cut off and shut up, 
or gather together; then who can hinder Him? For He 
knoweth vain men; He seeth wickedness. Also, will He 
not then consider it? We bow before His infinite majesty. 
We bow — we weep — we worship. 

" There reason fails witli all her powers, 
There faith prevails, and love adores." 

It was a cruel, cruel hand, that dark hand of the assas- 
sin, which smote our honored, wise, and noble President, 
and filled the land with sorrow. But above and beyond 
that hand there is another, which we must see and acknow- 
ledge. It is the chastening hand of a wise and faithful 
Father. He gives us the bitter cup; and the cup that our 
Father hath given us, shall we not drink it? God of the 
just. Thou gavest us the cup. We yield to Thy behest, 
and drink it up. Whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth. 
Oh, how these blessed words have cheered and strengthened 
and sustained us through all these long and weary years of 



FUNERAL SOLEMNITIES AT THE WUITE HOUSE. 87 

civil strife, while our friends and brothers on so many 
ensanguined fields were falling and dying for the cause of 
liberty and Union. Let them cheer and strengthen and 
sustain us to-day. True, this new sorrow and chastening 
has come in such an hour and in such a way as we thought 
not, and it bears the impress of a rod that is very heavy, 
and of a mystery that is very deep. That such a life should 
be sacrificed at such a time, by such a foul and diabolical 
agency ; that the man at the head of the nation, whom the 
people had learned to trust with a confiding and a loving 
confidence, and upon whom more than upon any other 
were centred, under God, our best hopes for the true and 
speedy pacification of the country, the restoration of the 
Union, and the return of harmony and love; that he should 
be taken from us, and taken just as the prospect of peace 
was brightly opening upon our torn and bleeding country, 
and just as he was beginning to be animated and gladdened 
with the hope of ere long enjoying with the people the 
blessed fruit and reward of his and their toil and care and 
patience, and self-sacrificing devotion to the interests of 
liberty and the Union — oh ! it is a mysterious and a most 
afflicting dispensation. But it is our Father in heaven, 
the God of our fathers, who permits us to be so suddenly 
and sorely smitten, and we know that His judgments are 
right, and that in faithfulness He has afflicted us in the 
midst of our rejoicings. We needed this stroke, this dealing, 
this discipline, and therefore He has sent it. Let us 
remember our affliction has not come forth of the dust, and 
our trouble has not sprung out of the ground. Through 
and beyond all second causes let us look and see the sove- 
reign permissive agency of the first great cause. It is His 
prerogative to bring light out of darkness and good out of 
evil. Surely the wrath of man shall praise Him, and the 
remainder of wrath He will restrain. In the light of a clear 
day we may yet see that the wrath which planned and 
perpetrated the death of the President was overruled by 



88 NATIONAL JEWELS. 

Him, whose judgments are unsearchable and His ways past 
finding out, for the highest welfare of all those interests 
which are so dear to the Christian, patriot, and philanthropist, 
and for which a loyal people have made such an unexampled 
sacrifice of treasure and of blood. Let us not be faithless, 
but believing. 

" Blind unbelief is sure to err, 
And scan his work in vain ; 
God is his own interpreter, 
And he will make it plain." 

We will wait for His interpretation, and we will wait in 
faith, nothing doubting. He who has led us so well, and 
defended and prospered us so wonderfully during the last 
four years of toil, and struggle, and sorrow, will not forsake 
us now. He may chasten, but He will not destroy. He 
may purify us more and more in the furnace of trial, but 
He will not consume us : no, no. He has chosen us, as He 
did His people of old in the furnace of affliction, and He 
has said of us, as He said of them, "This people have I 
formed for myself; they shall show forth my praise." Let 
our principal anxiety now be that this new sorrow may be 
a sanctified sorrow; that it may lead us to deeper repentance, 
to a more humbling sense of our dependence upon God, and 
to the more unreserved consecration of ourselves and all 
that we have to the cause of truth and justice. Of law and 
order, of liberty and good government, of pure and undefiled 
religion. Then, though " weeping may endure for a night, 
joy will come in the morning." Blessed be God, despite of 
the great, and sudden, and temporary darkness, the morning 
has begun to dawn — the morning of a bright and glorious 
day, such as our country has never seen. That day will 
come and not tarry, and the death of a hundred presidents 
and their cabinets can never, never prevent it. While we 
are hopeful, however, let us also be humble. The occasion 
calls us to prayerful and tearful humiliation. It demands 
of us that we lie low, very low, before Him who has stricken 
us for our sins. Oh, that all our rulers and all our people 



FUNERAL SOLEMNITIES AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 89 

may bow in tlie dust to-day beneath the chastening hand 
of God, and may their voices go up to Him as one voice, 
and their hearts go up to Him as one heart, pleading 
with Him for mercy, and for grace to sanctify our great 
and sore bereavement, and for wisdom to guide us in 
this our time of need. Such a united cry and pleading will 
not be in vain. It will enter into the ear and heart of Him 
who sits upon the throne, and He will say to us as to his 
ancient Israel, "In a little wrath I hid my fice from thee 
for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have 
mercy upon thee, saith the Lord, thy Eedeemer." I have 
said that the people confided in the late lamented President 
with a full and a loving confidence. Probably no man since 
the days of Washington was ever so deeply and firmly im- 
bedded and enshrined in the very hearts of the people as 
Abraham Lincoln. Nor was it a mistaken confidence and 
love. He deserved it — deserved it well — deserved it all. 
He merited it by his character, by his acts, and by the 
whole tenor and tone and spirit of his life. He was simple 
and sincere, plain and honest, trustful and just, benevolent 
and kind. His perceptions were quick and clear, his judg- 
ments were calm and accurate, and his purposes were good 
and pure, beyond a question. Always and everywhere he 
aimed and endeavored to be right and to do right. His 
integrity was thorough, all pervading, all controlling, and 
incorruptible. It was the same in every place and relation. 
In the consideration and the control of matters, great or 
small, the same firm and steady principle of power and 
beauty, that shed a clear and crowning lustre upon all his 
other excellences of mind and heart and recommended him 
to his fellow-citizens as the man who, in a time of unexam- 
pled peril, when the very life of the nation was at stake, 
should be chosen to occupy — in the country and for the 
country — its highest post of power and responsibility. How 
wisely and well, how purely and f dthfuUy, how firmly and 
steadiW, how justly and successfully, he did occupy that 



90 NATIONAL JEWELS. 

post and meet its grave demands, in circumstances of sur- 
prising trial and difficulty, is known to you all, is known 
to the country and the world. He comprehended from the 
first the perils to which treason had exposed the freest and 
best government on the eartli, the vast interests of liberty 
and humanity that were to be saved or lost forever, in the 
urgent impending conflict. He rose to the dignity and 
momentousness of the occasion, saw his duty as Chief 
Magistrate of a great and imperilled people, and he deter- 
mined to do his duty and his whole duty, seeking the guid- 
ance and leaning upon the arm of Him of whom it is written, 
"He giveth power to the faint, and to them that have no 
might He increases their strength." Yes, he leaned upon 
His arm; he recognized and received the truth that *the 
kingdom is the Lord's, and He is the Governor among the 
nations.' He remembered that ^God is in history,' and he 
felt that nowhere had His hand and His mercy been so 
marvellously conspicuous as in the history of this nation. 
He hoped and prayed that ^tliat same hand would continue 
to guide us, and that same mercy continue to abound to us 
in the time of our greatest need.' I speak what I know, 
and testify what I have often heard him say, when I affirm 
that that guidance and mercy were the prop on which he 
humbly and habitually leaned; that they were the best 
hope he had for himself and for his country. Hence when 
he was leaving his home in Hlinois and coming to this city 
to take his seat in the executive chair of a disturbed and 
troubled nation; he said to the old and tried friends who 
gathered joyfully around him and bade him farewell, 'I 
leave you with this request — pray for me.' They did pray 
for him. And millions of others prayed for him. Nor did 
they pray in vain. Their prayers were heard, and the 
answer appears in all his subsequent history. It shines 
forth with a heavenly radiance in the whole course and 
tenor of his administration, from its commencement to its 
close. God raised him up for a great and glorious mission, 



FUNERAL SOLEMNITIES AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 91 

furnished him for his work, and aided him in its accomplish- 
ment. Nor was it merely by strength of mind and honesty 
of heart and purity and pertinacity of purpose that he fur- 
nished him in addition to these things ; he gave him a calm 
and abiding confidence in the overruling providence of God, 
and in the ultimate triumph of truth and righteousness 
through the power and blessing of God. This confidence 
strengthened him in all his hours of anxiety and toil, and 
inspired him with calm and cheering hope, when others 
were inclining to despondency and gloom. Never shall I 
forget the emphasis and the deep emotion with which he 
said in this very room to a company of clergymen and 
others, who called to pay him their respects in the darkest 
days of our civil conflict : " Gentlemen, my hope of success 
in this great and terrible struggle rests on that immutable 
foundation, the justice and goodness of God." And when 
events are very threatening, and prospects very dark, "I 
still hope that in some way which man cannot see, all will 
be well in the end; because our cause is just and God is on 
our side." Such was his sublime and holy faith, and it was 
an anchor to his soul, both sure and steadfast; it made him 
firm and strong; and emboldened him in the pathway of 
duty, however rugged and perilous it might be. It made 
him valiant for the right, for the cause of God and humanity, 
and it held him in steady, patient, and unswerving adhe- 
rence to a policy of administration which, he thought, and 
which we all now think, both- God and humanity required 
him to adopt. We admired and loved him on many 
accounts, for strong and various reasons. We admired his 
childlike simplicity, freedom from guile and deceit; his 
stanch and sterling integrity; his kind and forgiving 
temper; his industry and patience; his persistent, self-sa- 
crificing devotion to all the duties of his eminent position, 
from the least to the greatest; his readiness to hear and 
consider the cause of the poor and humble, the suffering 
and the oppressed ; his charity towards those who questioned 



92 NATIONAL JEWELS. 

the correctness of his opinions and the wisdom of his policy ; 
his wonderful skill in reconciliating the differences among the 
friends of the Union, leading them away from obstructions, 
and inducing them to work together and harmoniously for 
the common weal ; his true and enlarged philanthropy that 
knew no distinction of color or race, but regarded all men 
as brethren, and endowed alike by their Creator with cer- 
tain inalienable rights, amongst which are life, liberty, and 
the pursuit of happiness; his inflexible purpose that what 
freedom had gained in our terrible strife should never be 
lost, and that the end of the war should be the end of 
slavery, and as a consequence of rebellion ; his readiness to 
spend and be spent for the attainment of such a triumph — 
a triumph the blessed fruits of which should be as wide- 
spreading as the earth and as enduring as the sun. All 
these things commanded and fixed our admiration and the 
admiration. of the world, and stamped upon his character 
and life the unmistakable impress of greatness. But, more 
sublime than any or all of these, more holy and influential, 
more beautiful and strong and sustaining was his abiding 
confidence in God, and in the final triumph of truth and 
righteousness, through Him and for His sake. This was 
his noblest virtue, his grandest principle, the secret alike of 
his strength, his patience, and his success ; and this, it seems 
to me, after being near him steadily and with him often for 
more than four years, is the principle by which more than 
by any other, he being dead,' yet speaketh. 

Yes, by his steady enduring confidence in God, and in 
the complete ultimate success of the cause of God, which is 
the cause of humanity, more than in any other way does 
he now speak to us, and to the nation he loved and served 
so well. By this he speaks to his successor in ofl3.ce, and 
charges him to have faith in God. By this he speaks to 
the members of his Cabinet, the men with whom he coun- 
selled so often and was associated with so long, and he 
charges them to have faith in God. By this he speaks to 



, FUNERAL SOLEMNITIES AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 93 

all who occupy positions of influence and authority in these 
sad and troublesome times, and he charges them all to have 
faith in God. By this he speaks to this great people as 
they sit in sackcloth to-day and weep for him with a bitter 
wailing, and refuse to be comforted ; and he charges them 
to have faith in God ; and by this he will speak through 
the ages, and to all rulers and peoples in every land, and 
his message to them will be : " Cling to liberty and right ; 
battle for them; bleed for them; die for them, if need be, 
and have confidence in God." Oh ! that the voice of this 
testimony may sink down into our hearts to-day and every 
day, and into the heart of the nation, and exert its appro- 
priate influence upon our feelings, our faith, our patience 
and our devotion to the cause, now dearer to us than ever 
before, because consecrated by the blood of the most con- 
spicuous defender, its wisest and most fondly trusted friend. 
He is dead, but the God in whom he trusted lives, and he 
can guide and strengthen his successor as he guided and 
strengthened him. He is dead, but the memory of his vir- 
tues, of his wise and patriotic counsels and labors, of his 
calm and steady faith in God lives, is precious, and will be 
a power for good in the country quite down to the end of 
time. He is dead ; but the cause he so ardently loved, so 
ably, patiently, faithfully represented and defended, not for 
himself only, not for us only, but for all people, in all their 
coming generations, till time shall be no more — that cause 
survives his fall, and will survive it. The light of its 
brightening prospects flashes cheeringly to-day around the 
gloom occasioned by his duties, and the language of God's 
united providences is telling us that, though the friends of 
liberty die, liberty itself is immortal ; there is no assassin 
strong enough, and no weapon deadly enough to quench its 
inextinguishable life or arrest its onward march to the con- 
quest and empire of the world. This is our confidence and 
this is our consolation as we weep and 'mourn to-day. 
Though our beloved President is slain, our beloved country 



94: NATIONAL JEWELS. 

is saved, and so we sing of mercy as well as of j udgment. 
Tears of gratitude mingle with those of sorrow, while there 
is also the dawning of a brighter, happier day, upon our 
stricken and weary land. God be praised that our fallen chief 
lived long enough to see the day dawn and the day star of 
joy and peace arise upon the nation. He saw it and he 
was glad. Alas ! alas ! he only saw the dawn. When the 
sun has risen full orbed, and a glorious and a happy re- 
united people are rejoicing in its light, it will shine upon his 
grave. But that grave will be a precious and a consecrated 
spot. The friends of liberty and of the Union will repair 
to it in years and ages to come to pronounce the memory 
of its occupant blessed, and gathering from his very ashes 
and from the rehearsal of his deeds and virtues fresh incen- 
tives to patriotism. They will then renew their vows of 
fidelity to their country and their God. And now I know 
not that I can more appropriately conclude this discourse, 
which is but a sincere and simple utterance of the heart, 
than by addressing to our departed President, with some 
slight modification, the language which Tacitus, in his life 
of Agricola, addressed to his venerated and departed father- 
in-law : " With you we may now congratulate. You are 
blessed, not only because your life was a career of glory, 
but because you were released when, your country safe, it 
was happiness to die. We have lost a parent, and, in our 
distress, it is now an addition to our heartfelt sorrows that 
we had it not in our power to commune with you on the 
bed of languishing and receive your last embrace. Your 
dying words would have been ever dear to us. Your com- 
mands we should have treasured up and graved them on 
our hearts. This sad comfort we have lost, and the wound 
for that reason pierces deeper. From the world of spirits 
behold your disconsolate family and people. Exalt our 
minds from fond regret and unavailing grief to the con- 
templation of your virtues. These we must not lament. 
It were impiety to sully them with a tear. To cherish 



FUNHRAL SOLEMNITIES AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 95 

their memory, to embalm them with our praises, and so far 
as we can to emulate your bright example, will be the 
truest mark of your respect, the best tribute we can offer. 
Your wife will thus preserve the memory of the best of 
husbands, and thus your children will prove their final piety. 
By dwelling constantly on your words and actions they will 
have an illustrious character before their eyes ; and not con- 
tent with the base image of your mortal frame, they will 
have what is more valuable — the form and features of your 
mind. Busts and statues, like their originals, are frail and 
perishable. The soul is formed of finer elements, and its 
inward form is not to be expressed by the hand of an artist 
with unconscious matter. Our manners and our morals 
may in some degree trace the resemblance. All of you 
that gained our love and raised our admiration still subsist, 
and will ever subsist, preserved in the minds of men, the 
register of ages and the records of fame. Others, matured 
on the stages of life, and who were the worthies of a former 
day, will sink for want of a faithful historian into the com- 
mon lot of oblivion, inglorious and unremembered ; but you, 
our lamented friend and head, delineated with truth and 
fairly consigned to posterity, will survive yourself and tri- 
umph over the injuries of time." 



FUNERAL OIUTION OF BISHOP SIMPSON AT SPRINGFIELD, 

ILLINOIS. 



Rev. Bishop Simpson, of the Methodist Episcopal Church, was a great 
favorite with the late President of the United States. In the summer of 
1864, at the United States Sanitary Fair held in Philadelphia, the Presi- 
dent was expected to deliver the opening address, but public duties and 
executive labors prevented him from being able to meet the expectations 
of the people. This was a great disappointment. The President atoned 
for this by enlisting the services of his eloquent and reverend friend, Bishop 
Simpson. As thousands of living witnesses who heard that thrilling and 
patriotic speech can testify, the President did not make a mistake in 
delegating to that Methodist Bishop this responsible task. 

Bishop Simpson was again selected by the representatives of his illus- 
trious but departed friend, to deliver the funeral oration at Springfield, 
Illinois, his former home, and his resting-place, until "this corruptible 
shall put on incorruption, and this mortal shall put on immortality." 

Fellow-Citizens of Illinois, and of many parts of our 
ENTIRE Union : Near the capital of this large and growing 
State of Illinois, in the midst of this beautiful grove, and 
at the open mouth of the vault which has just received the 
remains of our fallen chieftain, we gather to pay a tribute 
of respect and drop the tears of sorrow around the ashes of 
the mighty dead. A little more than four years ago, he 
left his plain and quiet home in yonder city, receiving the 
parting words of the concourse of friends who, in the midst 
of the dropping of the gentle shower, gathered around him. 
He spoke of the pain of parting from the place where he 
had lived for a quarter of a century, where his children 
had been born, and his home had been rendered so plea- 
sant by friendly associations. And as he left he made 
an earnest request in the hearing of some who are present 
at this hour, that, as he was about to enter upon responsi- 



FUNERAL ORATION OF BISHOP SIMPSON. 97 

bilities which he believed to be greater than any which hnd 
fallen upon any man since the days of Washington, the 
people would offer up prayers that God would aid and sus- 
tain him in the work which they had given him to do. 

His company left your quiet city. But as it went, snares 
were in waiting for the chief magistrate. Scarcely did he 
escape the dangers of the way or the hands of the assassin 
as he neared Washington, and I believe he escaped only 
through the vigilance of the officers and the prayers of the 
people ; so that the blow was suspended for more than four 
years, which was at last permitted, through the providence 
of God, to fall. 

How different the occasion which witnessed his departure 
from that which witnessed his return ! Doubtless you 
expected to take him by the hand, to feel the warm grasp 
which you had felt in other days and to see the tall form 
walking among you which you had delighted to honor in 
years past. But he was never permitted to return until he 
came with lips mute and silent, his ficame encoffined, and a 
weeping nation following as his mourners. Such a scene 
as his return to you was never witnessed. Among the 
events of history there have been great processions of 
mourners. There was one for the patriarch Jacob, which 
went up from Egypt, and the Egyptians wondered at the 
evidences of reverence and filial affection which came from 
the hearts of the Israelites. There was mourning when 
Moses fell upon the heights of Pisgah and was hid from 
human view. There have been mournings in the kingdoms 
of the earth when kings and warriors have fallen. But 
never was there in the history of man such mourning as 
that which has accompanied this funeral procession, and 
has gathered around the mortal remains of him who was 
our loved one, and who now sleeps among us. If we glance 
at the procession which followed him, we see how the nation 
stood aghast. Tears filled the eyes of manly, sunburnt faces. 
Strong men, as they clasped the hands of their friends, were 



98 NATIONAL JEWELS. 

not able in words to find vent for their grief. Women and 
little children caught up the tidings as they ran through 
the land, and were melted into tears. The nation stood still. 
Men left their ploughs in the fields, and asked what the 
end should be. The hum of manufactories ceased, and the 
sound of the hammer was not heard. Busy merchants 
closed their doors ; and in the exchange gold passed no 
more from hand to hand. Thouo;h three weeks have 
elapsed, the nation has scarcely breathed easily yet. A 
mournful silence is abroad upon the land ; nor is this mourn- 
ing confined to any class or to any district of country. 
Men of all political parties, and of all religious creeds, have 
united in paying this mournful tribute. The archbishop of 
the Roman Catholic Church in New York and a Protestant 
minister walked side by side in the sad procession, and a 
Jewish rabbi performed a part of the solemn services. 

Here are gathered around his tomb the representatives 
of the army and navy, senators, judges, governors, and offi- 
cers of all the branches of the government. Here, too, are 
members of civic processions, with men and women from 
the humblest as well as the highest occupations. Here, and 
there, too, are tears, as sincere and warm as any that drop, 
which come from the eyes of those whose kindred and whose 
race have been freed from their chains by him whom they 
mourn as their deliverer. More persons have gazed on the 
face of the departed than ever looked upon the face of 
any other departed man. More have looked on the pro- 
cession for 1600 miles or more — by night and by day — by 
sunlight, dawn, twilight, and by torchlight, than ever 
before watched the progress of a procession. 

We ask why this wonderful mourning — this great pro- 
cession ? I answer, first, a part of the interest has arisen 
from the times in which we live, and in which he that had 
fallen was a principal actor. It is a principle of our nature 
that feelings, once excited, turn readily from the object by 
which they are excited to some other object which may for 



FUNERAL ORATION OF BISHOP SIMPSON. 99 

the time being take possession of the mind. Another 
principle is, the deepest affections of our hearts gather 
around some human form in which are incarnated the 
living thoughts and ideas of the passing age. If we 
look then at the times, we see an age of excitement. 
For four years the popular heart has been stirred to its 
inmost depth. War had come upon us, dividing families, 
separating nearest and dearest friends — a war, the extent 
and magnitude of which no one could estimate — a war in 
which the blood of brethren was shed by a brother's hand. 
A call for soldiers was made by this voice now hushed, and 
all over the land, from hill to mountain, from plain 
to valley, there sprang up thousands of bold hearts, ready 
to go forth and save our national Union. This feeling 
of excitement was transformed next into a feeling of deep 
grief because of the dangers in which our country was 
placed. Many said : "Is it possible to save our nation?" 
Some in our country, and nearly all the leading men 
in other countries, declared it to be impossible to maintain 
the Union ; and many an honest and patriotic heart 
was deeply pained with apprehensions of common ruin ; 
and many, in grief, and almost in despair, anxiously 
inquired : What shall the end of these things be ? In 
addition to this, wives had given their husbands, mothers 
their sons, the pride and joy of their hearts. They 
saw them put on the uniform, they saw them take the 
martial step, and they tried to hide their deep feeling of 
sadness. Many dear ones slept upon the battle-field never 
to return again, and there was mourning in every mansion 
and in every cabin in our broad land. Then came a feeling 
of deeper sadness as the story came of prisoners tortured 
to death or starved through the mandates of those who are 
called the representatives of chivalry, and who claimed to 
be the honorable ones of the earth ; and as we read the 
stories of frames attenuated and reduced to mere skeletons, 
our grief turned partly into horror and partly into a cry for 
vengeance. 



100 NATIONAL JEWELS. 

Then this feeling was changed to one of joy. There 
came signs of the end of this rebellion. We followed the 
career of our glorious generals. We saw our army, under 
the command of the brave officer who is guiding this pro- 
cession, climb up the heights of Lookout Mountain, and 
drive the rebels from their strongholds. Another brave 
general swept through Georgia, South and North Carolina, 
and drove the combined armies of the rebels before him, 
while the honored lieutenant-general held Lee and his hosts 
in a death grasp. 

Then the tidings came that Richmond was evacuated, 
and that Lee had surrendered. The bells rang merrily all 
over the land. The booming of cannon was heard; illumi- 
nations and torch-light processions manifested the general 
joy, and families were looking for the speedy return of 
their loved ones from the field of battle. Just in the midst 
of this wildest joy, in one hour — nay, in one moment — the 
tidings thrilled throughout the land that Abraham Lincoln, 
the best of presidents, had perished by the hands of an 
assassin; and then all the feelings which had been gather- 
ing for four years, in forms of excitement, grief, horror, and 
joy, turned into one wail of woe — a sadness inexpressible — 
an anguish unutterable. But it is not the times merely 
which caused this mourning. The mode of his death must 
be taken into the account. Had he died on a bed of illness, 
with kind friends around him ; had the sweat of death been 
wiped from his brow by gentle hands, while he was yet 
conscious; could he have had power to speak words of 
affection to his stricken widow, or words of counsel to us 
like those which we heard in his parting inaugural at 
Washington, which shall now be immortal — how it would 
have softened or assuaged something of the grief. There 
might, at least, have been preparation for the event. But 
no moment of warnina: was ffiven to him or to us. He 
was stricken down, too, when his hopes for the end of the 
rebellion were bright, and prospects of a joyous life were 



FUNERAL ORATION OF BISHOP SIMPSON. 101 

before him. There was a cabinet meeting that day, said to 
have been the most cheerful and happy of any held since 
the beginning of the rebellion. After this meeting he 
talked with his friends, and spoke of the four years of tem- 
pest, of the storm being over, and of the four years of plea- 
sure and joy now awaiting him, as the weight of care and 
anxiety would be taken from his mind, and he could have 
happy days with his family again. In the midst of these 
anticipations he left his house never to return alive. The 
evening was Good Friday, the saddest day in the whole 
calendar for the Christian Church — henceforth in this 
country to be made sadder, if possible, by the memory of 
our nation's loss; and so filled with grief was every Christian 
heart, that even all the joyous thought of Easter Sunday 
ftiiled to remove the crushing sorrow under which the true 
worshipper bowed in the house of God. 

But the great cause of this mourning is to be found in 
the man himself. Mr. Lincoln was no ordinary man. I 
believe the conviction has been growing on the nation's 
mind, as it certainly has been on my own, especially in the 
last years of his administration, that, by the hand of God, 
he was especially singled out to guide our government in 
these troublesome times, and it seems to me that the hand 
of God may be traced in many of the events connected with 
his history. First, then, I recognize this in the physical 
education which he received, and which prepared, him for 
enduring herculean labors. In the toils of his boyhood and 
the labors of his manhood, God was giving him an iron 
frame. Next to this was his identification with the heart 
of the great people, understanding their feelings because he 
was one of them, and connected with them in their move- 
ments and life. His education was simple. A few months 
spent in the school-house gave him the elements of education. 
He read few books, but mastered all he read. Pilgrims 
Progress J ^sops FahJes, and the Life of Washington, were 
his favorites. In these we recognize the works which gave 



102 NATIONAL JEWELS. 

the bias to his character, and which partly moulded his 
style. His earlj^ life, with its varied struggles, joined him 
indissolubly to the working masses, and no elevation in 
society diminished his respect for the sons of toil. He knew 
what it was to fell the tall trees of the forest, and to stem 
the current of the broad Mississippi. His home was in the 
growing West, the heart of the republic, and, invigorated by 
the winds which swept over its prairies, he learned lessons 
of self-reliance which sustained him in seasons of adversity. 

His genius was soon recognized, as true genius always 
wall be, and he was placed in the legislature of his State. 
Already acquainted with the principles of law, he devoted 
his thoughts to matters of public interest, and began to be 
looked on as the coming statesman. As early as 1839 he 
presented resolutions in the legislature asking for emanci- 
pation in the District of Columbia, when, with but rare 
exceptions, the whole popular mind of his State was opposed 
to the measure. From that hour he was a steady and uni- 
form friend of humanity, and was preparing for the conflict 
of later years. 

If you ask me on what mental characteristic his great- 
ness rested, I answer, on a quick and ready perception of 
facts; on a memory usually tenacious and retentive; and 
on a logical turn of mind, which followed sternly and 
unwaveringly every link in the chain of thought on every 
subject which he was called to investigate. I think there 
have been minds more broad in their character, more com- 
prehensive in their scope, but I doubt if there ever has been 
a man who could follow step by step, with more logical 
power, the points which he desired to illustrate. He gained 
this power by the close study of geometry, and by a deter- 
mination to perceive the truth in all its relations and sim- 
plicity, and, when found, to utter it. 

It is said of him that in childhood when he had any 
difficulty, in listening to a conversation, to ascertain what 
people meant, if he retired to rest he could not sleep till he 



FUNERAL ORATION OF BISHOP SIMPSON. 103 

tried to understand the precise points intended, and when 
understood, to frame Language to convey it in a clearer 
manner to others. Who that has read his messages fails to 
perceive the directness and simplicity of his style? And 
this very trait, which was scoffed at and decried by oppo- 
nents, is now recognized as one of the strong points of that 
mighty mind which has so powerfully influenced the destiny 
of this nation, and which shall, for ages to come, influence 
the destiny of humanity. 

It was not, however, chiefly by his mental faculties that 
he gained such control over mankind. His moral power 
gave him preeminence. The convictions of men, that 
Abraham Lincoln was an honest man, led them to yield 
to his guidance. As has been said of Cobden, whom he 
greatly resembled, he made all men feel a sense of himself 
— a recognition of individuality — a self-relying power. 
They saw in him a man who they believed would do what 
is right, regardless of all consequences. It was this moral 
feeling which gave him the greatest hold on the people, 
and made his utterances almost oracular. When the nation 
was angered by the perfidy of foreign nations in allowing 
privateers to be fitted out, he uttered the significant ex- 
pression, " One war at a time," and it stilled the national 
heart. When his own friends were divided as to what 
steps should be taken as to slavery, that simple utterance, 
"I will save the Union, if I can, with slavery; if not, 
slavery must perish, for the Union must be preserved," 
became the rallying word. Men felt the struggle was for 
the Union, and all other questions must be subsidiary. 

But, after all, by the acts of a man shall his fame be per- 
petuated. What are his acts? Much praise is due to the 
men who aided him. He called able counsellors around 
him — some of whom have displayed the highest order of 
talent united with the purest and most devoted patriotism. 
He summoned able generals into the field — men who have 
borne the sword as bravely as ever any human arm has 



lOi NATIONAL JEWELS. 

borne it. He had the aid of prayerful and thoughtful men 
everywhere. But, under his own guiding hands, wise 
counsels were combined and great movements conducted. 

Turn towards the different departments. We had an 
unorganized militia, a mere skeleton army ; yet, under his 
care, that army has been enlarged into a force which, for 
skill, intelligence, efficiency, and bravery, surpasses any 
which the world has ever seen. Before its veterans the 
fame of even the renowned veterans of Napoleon shall 
pale, and the mothers and sisters on these hillsides, and 
all over the land, shall take to their arms again braver 
sons and brothers than ever fought in European wars. 
The reason is obvious. Money, or a desire for fame, col- 
lected those armies, or they were rallied to sustain favorite 
thrones or dynasties ; but the armies he called into being 
fought for liberty, for the Union, and for the right of self- 
government ; and many of them felt that the battles they 
won were for humanity everywhere and for all time ; for 
I believe that God has not suffered this terrible rebellion 
to come upon our land merely for a chastisement to us, or 
as a lesson to our age. There are moments which involve 
in themselves eternities. There are instants wdiich seem 
to contain germs which shall develop and bloom forever. 
Such a moment came in the tide of time to our land, when 
a question must be settled which affected all the earth. 
The contest was for human freedom, not for this republic 
merely ; not for the Union simply, but to decide whether 
the people, as a people, in their entire majesty, were des- 
tined to be the government, or whether they were to be 
subject to tyrants or aristocrats, or to class-rule of any kind. 
This is the great question for which w^e have been fighting, 
and its decision is at hand, and the result of the contest 
will affect the ages to come. If successful, republics will 
spread, in spite of monarchs, all over the earth. 

I turn from the army to the navy. What was it when 



FUNERAL ORATION OF BISHOP SIMPSON. 105 

the war commenced ? Now we have oui* ships of war at 
home and abroad, to guard privateers in foreign sympa- 
thizing ports, as well as to care for every part of our own 
coast. They have taken forts that military men said could 
not be taken ; and a brave admiral, for the first time in 
the world's history, lashed himself to the mast, there to 
remain as long as he had a particle of skill or strength to 
watch over his ship, while it engaged in the perilous con- 
test of taking the strong forts of the rebels. 

Then, again, I turn to the treasury department. Where 
should the money come from ? Wise men predicted ruin, 
but our national credit has been maintained, and our cur- 
rency is safer to-day than it ever was before. Not only 
so, but through our national bonds, if properly used, we 
shall have a permanent basis for our currency, and an in- 
vestment so desirable for capitalists of other nations that, 
under the laws of trade, I believe the centre of exchange 
will speedily be transferred from England to the United 
States. 

But the great act of the mighty chieftain, on which his 
fame shall rest long after his frame shall moulder away, is 
that of giving freedom to a race. We have all been taught 
to revere the sacred characters. Among them Moses 
stands preeminently high. He received the law from God, 
and his name is honored among the hosts of heaven. Was 
not his greatest act the delivering of three millions of his 
kindred out of bondage ? Yet we may assert that Abra- 
ham Lincoln, by his proclamation, liberated more enslaved 
people than ever Moses set free, and those not of his kindred 
or his race. Such a power, or such an opportunity, God 
has seldom given to man. When other events shall have 
been forgotten ; when this world shall have become a net- 
work of republics ; when every throne shall be swept from 
the face of the earth ; when literature shall enlighten all 
minds; when the claims of humanity shall be recognized 
everywhere — this act shall still be conspicuous on the 



106 > NATIONAL JEWELS. 

pages of history. We are thankful that God gave to Abra- 
ham Lincoln the decision and wisdom and grace to issue 
that proclamation, which stands high above all other 
papers which have been penned by uninspired men. 

Abraham Lincoln was a good man. He was known as 
an honest, temperate, forgiving man; a just man; a man 
of noble heart in every way. As to his religious experi- 
ence, I cannot speak definitelj', because I was not privileged 
to know much of his private sentiments. My acquaintance 
with him did not give me the opportunity to hear him 
speak on those topics. This I know, however, he read the 
Bible frequently ; loved it for its great truths and its pro- 
found teachings ; and he tried to be guided by its precepts. 
He believed in Christ the Saviour of sinners ; and I think 
he was sincere in trying to bring his life into harmony with 
the principles of revealed religion. Certainly if there ever 
was a man who illustrated some of the principles of pure 
religion, that man was our departed President. Look over 
all his speeches, listen to his utterances. He never spoke 
unkindly of any man. Even the rebels received no word of 
anger from him, and his last day illustrated in a remarkable 
manner his forgiving disposition. A dispatch was received 
that afternoon that Thompson and Tucker were trying to 
make their escape through Maine, and it was proposed to 
arrest them. Mr. Lincoln, however, preferred rather to let 
them quietly escape. He was seeking to save the very men 
who had been plotting his destruction. This morning we 
read a proclamation offering $25,000 for the arrest of these 
men as aiders and abettors of his assassination ; so that, in 
liie expiring acts, he was saying : " Father, forgive them, 
they know not what they do." 

As a ruler, I doubt if any President has ever shown such 
trust in God, or in public documents so frequently referred 
to divine aid. Often did he remark to friends and to dele- 
gations that his hope for our success rested in his conviction 



FUNERAL ORATION OF BISHOP SIMPSON. 107 

that God would bless our efforts, because we were trying to 
do right. To the address of a large religious body he re- 
plied : "Thanks be unto God, who, in our national trials, 
giveth us the churches." To a minister who said he hoped 
the Lord was on our side, he replied, that it gave him no 
concern whether the Lord was on our side or not, for, he 
added, "I know the Lord is always on the side of right;" 
and with deep feeling added : "But God is my witness, 
that it is my constant anxiety and prayer that both myself 
and this nation should be on the Lord's side." 

Li his domestic life he was exceedingly kind and affec- 
tionate. He was a devoted husband and father. Durino- 
his presidential term he lost his second son, Willie. To an 
officer of the army, he said, not long since : " Do you ever 
find yourself talking with the dead ?" and added : " Since 
Willie's death, I catch myself every day involuntarily talk- 
ing with him, as if he were with me." On his widow, who 
is unable to be here, I need only invoke the blessing of 
Almighty God that she may be comforted and sustained. 
For his son, who has witnessed the exercises of this hour, 
all that I can desire is that the mantle of his father may 
fall upon him. 

Let us pause a moment in the lesson of the hour before we 
part. This man, though he fell by an assassin, still fell 
under the permissive hand of God. He had some wise 
purpose in allowing him so to fall. What more could he 
have desired of life for himself? Were not his honors full ? 
There was no office to which he could aspire. The popular 
heart clung around him as around no other man. The 
nations of the world had learned to honor our chief magis- 
trate. If rumors of a desired alliance with England be true, 
Napoleon trembled when he heard of the fall of Richmond, 
and asked what nation would join him to protect him 
against our government under the guidance of such a man. 
His fame was full, his work was done, and he sealed his 
glory by becoming the nation's great martyr for liberty. 



108 NATIONAL JEWELS. 

He appears to have had a strange presentiment early in 
political life, that some day he would be President. You see 
it indicated in 1839. Of the slave power he said: "Broken 
by it I too may be; bow to it I never will. The proba- 
bility that we may fail in the struggle ought not to deter 
us from the support of a cause which I deem to be just. It 
shall not deter me. If ever I feel the soul within me ele- 
vate and expand to those dimensions not wholly unworthy 
of its Almighty architect, it is when I contemplate the 
cause of my country, deserted by all the world besides, and 
I standing up, boldly and alone, and hurling defiance at her 
victorious oppressors. Here, without contemplating con- 
sequences, before high Heaven and in the face of the world, 
I swear eternal fidelity to the just cause, as I deem it, of 
the land of my life, my liberty, and my love." And yet, 
recently, he said to more than one : " I never shall live out 
the four years of my term. When the rebellion is crushed 
mv work is done." So it was. He lived to see the last 

4/ 

battle fought, and dictate a dispatch from the home of Jef- 
ferson Davis; lived till the power of the rebellion was 
broken ; and then, having done the work for which God 
had sent him, angels, I trust, were sent to shield him from 
one moment of pain or suffering, and to bear him from this 
world to the high and glorious realm where the patriot and 
the good shall live forever. 

His career teaches young men that every position of 
eminence is open before the diligent and the worthy. To 
the active men of the country, his example is an incentive 
to trust in God and do right. To the ambitious there is 
this fearful lesson : of the four candidates for Presidential 
honors in 1860, two of them — Douglas and Lincoln — once 
competitors, but now sleeping patriots, rest from their 
labors ; Bell, abandoned to perish in poverty and misery, as 
a traitor might perish ; and Breckinridge is a frightened 
fugitive, with the brand of traitor on his brow. 



FUNERAL ORATION OF BISHOP SIMPSON. 109 

Standing, as we do to-day, by his coffin and his sepulchre, 
let us resolve to carry forward the policy which he so 
nobly begun. Let us do right to all men. Let us vow, in 
the sight of Heaven, to eradicate every vestige of human 
slavery; to give every human being his true position 
before God and man ; to crush every form of rebellion, 
and to stand by the flag which God has given us. How 
joyful that it floated over parts of every State before 
Mr. Lincoln's career was ended. How singular that, to 
the fact of the assassin's heels being caught in the folds of 
the flag, we are probably indebted for his capture. The 
flag and the traitor must ever be enemies. 

Traitors will probably sufler by the change of rulers, for 
one of sterner mould, and who himself has deeply suffered 
from the rebellion, now wields the sword of justice. Our 
country, too, is stronger for the trial. A republic was 
declared by monarchists too weak to endure a civil war'; 
yet we have crushed the most gigantic rebellion in history, 
and have grown in strength and population every year of 
the struggle. We have passed through the ordeal of a 
popular election while swords and bayonets were in the 
field, and have come out unharmed. And now, in our 
hour of excitement, with a large minority having preferred 
another man for President, when the bullet of the assassin 
has laid our President prostrate, has there been a mutiny ? 
Has any rival proffered his claims? Out of an army of 
near a million, no officer or soldier uttered one note of dis- 
sent, and, in an hour or two after Mr. Lincoln's death, 
another leader, under constitutional forms, occupied his 
chair, and the government moved forward without one 
single jar. The world will learn that republics are the 
strougest governments on earth. 

And now, my friends, in the words of the departed, 
" with malice towards none, free from all feelings of per- 
sonal vengeance, yet believing that the sword must not be 
borne in vain," let us go forward even in painful duty. 



110 NATIONAL JEWELS. 

Let every man who was a senator or representative in 
Congress, and who aided in beginning this rebellion, and 
thus led to the slaughter of our sons and daughters, be 
brought to speedy and to certain punishment. Let every 
officer educated at the public expense, and who, having 
been advanced to high position, perjured himself, and turned 
his sword against the vitals of his country, be doomed to 
a traitor's death. This, I believe, is the will of the Ameri- 
can people. Men may attempt to compromise and to re- 
store these traitors and murderers to society again. Vainly 
may they talk of the fancied honor or chivalry of these 
murderers of our sons — these starvers of our prisoners — 
these officers who mined their prisons and placed kegs of 
powder to destroy our captive officers. But the American 
people will rise in their majesty and sweep all such com- 
promises and compromisers away, and will declare that 
there shall be no sal^ety for rebel leaders. But to the 
deluded masses, we will extend the arms of forgiveness. 
We will take them to our hearts, and walk with them side 
by side, as we go forward to work out a glorious destiny. 

The time will come when, in the beautiful words of him 
whose lips are now forever sealed, " The mystic cords of 
memory, stretching from every battle-field and patriot 
grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this 
broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when 
again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels 
of our nature." 

Chieftain ! farewell. The nation mourns thee. Mothers 
shall teach thy name to their lisping children. The youth 
of our land shall emulate thy virtues. Statesmen shall 
study thy record, and learn lessons of wisdom. Mute 
though thy lips be, yet they still speak. Hushed is thy 
voice, but its echoes of liberty are ringing through the 
world, and the sons of bondage listen with joy. Prisoned 
thou art in death, and yet thou art marching abroad, and 



FUNERAL ORATION OF BISHOP SIMPSON. Ill 

chains and manacles are bursting at thy touch. Thou 
didst fall not for thyself The assassin had no hate for 
thee. Our hearts were aimed at, our national life was 
sought. We crown thee as our martyr — and humanity 
enthrones thee as her triumphant son. Hero, Martyr, 
Friend, Farewell. 



[The following beautiful hymn, accompanied by a band of music, was, among 
others, sung prior to the delivery of the preceding sermon.] 

TEUST IN GOD. 

Peace, troubled soul, thou need'st not fear; 
Thy great Provider still is near ; 
Who fed thee last, will feed thee still: 
Be culm, and sink into his will. 

The Lord, who built the earth and sky, 
In mercy stoops 'to hear thy cry ; 
His promise all may freely claim: 
Ask and receive in Jesus' name. 

Without reserve give Christ your heart ; 
Let him his righteousness impart; 
Then all things else he '11 freely give; 
With him you all things shall receive. 

Thus shall the soul be truly blest, 
That seeks in God his only rest ; 
May I that happy person be. 
In time and in eternity ! 



THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER. 

Oh, say, can you see, by the dawn's early light. 

What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming? 
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight, 

O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming. 
And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air, 

Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there : 
Oh, say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave 
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave? 

On that shore dimly seen through the mists of the deep, 
/ Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes, 
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep, 

As it fitfully blows, now conceals, now discloses? 
Jsow it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam, 
In full glory reflected now shines in the stream. 

'Tis the star-spangled banner, oh long may it wave 
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave. 

And where are the foes who so vauntingly swore 

That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion 
A home and a country should leave us no more? 

Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution. 
IsTo refuge could save the hireling and slave 

From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave ; 

And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave 
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave. 

Oh thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand 

Between their loved homes and the war's desolation 1 
Blest with victory and peace, may the heaven-rescued land 

Praise the power that hath made and preserved us a nation I 
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just. 
And this be our motto — " In God is our trust 1" 

And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave 
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave. 



OUR GOD IS MARCHING ON. 

BATTLE HYMN OF THE REPUBLIC. 

As sung by Chaplain C. C. McCabe, while a prisoner in Libby, after hearing old Ben 
(the colored paper-seller in Richmond) cry out; " Great news by the telegraph .' Great 
battle at Gettysburg .' Union soldiers gain theday !'''' Upon hearing such glorious news, 
Chaplain McCabe sung this soul-stirring hymn, all the prisoners joining him heartily in 
the chorus, making the old prison-walls ring with " Glory, glory, hallelujah !" 

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coining of the Lord ; 

He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored ; 

He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible quick sword : 

His truth is marching on. 
Chorus — Glory, glory, hallelujah ! 

I have seen him in the watch-fires of a hundred circling camps ; 
They have builded Him an altar in the evening dews and damps ; 
I have read his righteous sentence by the dim and flaring lamps : 

His day is marching on. 
CJwrus — Glory, glory, hallelujah ! 

I have read a fiery gospel, writ in burnished rows of steel, ' 

" As ye deal with my contemners, so with you my grace shall deal ; 
Let the Hero, born of woman, crush the serpent with his heel, 

Since God is marching on." 
Chorus — Glory, glory, hallelujah ! 

He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat ; 
He is sifting out the hearts of men before his judgment-seat ; 
Oh, be swift, my soul, to answer Him ! be jubilant, my feet : 

Our God is marching on. 
Cliorus — Glory, glory, hallelujah 1 

In the beauty of the lilies Christ was borne across the sea 
With a glory in his bosom that transfigures you and me ; 
As he died to make men holy, let us die to make men free, 

While God is marching on. 
Chorus — Glory, glory, hallelujah ! 



SEPvMON ON THE MOUNT. 

(Matthew V., VI., VII.) 

[While Hon. John M. Clayton, of Delaware, was Secretary of State 
under President Zachary Taylor, I rode with him in a stage coach from 
Dover, Del., to the steamboat at Smyrna Landing. It was before daylight. 
There were several in the stage: all were disposed to listen to the states- 
man, who was proverbial for conversational powers. Among other topics 
the subject of Religion was introduced, and in this matter Mr. Clayton 
was the leading spirit He remarked: "My dear mother was a Methodist 
to the day of her death, and a bright Christian. I am a firm believer in 
the Christian religion. At Washington we frequently meet with skeptical 
persons, and with them I often have spirited controversies. I have read 
many works on the Evidences of Christianity, and heard sermons preached 
on the same subject ; hut nothing that I have ever heard or read has con- 
vinced me so thoroughly of the truth and divinity of religion as the Lord's 
Sermon on the Mount and the Lord's Prayer." 

However remotely Mr. Clayton lived from the Christian standard prac- 
tically, he was theoretically a Christian through life, and in death he clung 
to the cross and professed saving faith in the Redeemer, and no doubt felt 
often in life and in death how great is the blessing of a pious mother, who 
first taught him to lisp "Our Father which art in heaven." 

" wondrous power ! how little understood 1 
Entrusted to the mother's mind alone 
To fashion genius, form the soul for good."] 

And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a 
mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came 
unto him. And he opened his mouth, and taught 
them, saying, 

Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the 
kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn : 
for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek : 
for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are they 



SERMON ON" THE MOUNT. 115 

which do hunger and thirst after righteousness : for 
they shall be filled. Blessed are the mercifid : for 
they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in 
heart: for they shall see God. Blessed arc the peace- 
makers: for they shall be called the children of God. 
Blessed are they which" are persecuted for righteous- 
ness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 
Blessed are ye when imn shall revile you, and per- 
secute you^ and shall say all manner of evil against 
you falsely, for my sake. Eejoice, and be exceeding 
glad : for great is your reward in heaven : for so per- 
secuted they the prophets which were before you. 

Ye are the salt of the earth : but if the salt have 
lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is 
thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast Out, and 
to be trodden under foot of men. Ye are the light 
of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot 
be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it 
under a bushel, but on a candlestick : and it giveth 
light unto all that are in the house. Let your light 
so shine before men, that they may see your good 
works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. 

Think not I am come to destroy the law, or the 
prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. 
For verily I say unto you. Till heaven and earth pass, 
one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the 
law, till 'all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall 
break one of these least commandments, and shall 
teach men so, he shall be called the least in the 
kingdom of heaven : but whosoever shall do, and 
teach tliem^ the same shall be called great in the 
kingdom of heaven. For I say unto you, That ex- 



116 SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 

cept your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness 
of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case en- 
ter into the kingdom of heaven. 

Ye have heard that it was said by them of old 
time, Thou shalt not kill ; and whosoever shall kill, 
shall be in danger of the judgment : But I say unto 
you, that whosoever is angry with his brother with- 
out a cause, shall be in danger of the judgment : and 
whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in 
danger of the council : but whosoever shall say. Thou 
fool, shall be in danger of hell-fire. Therefore, if 
thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there remember- 
est that thy brother hath aught against thee, leave 
there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way ; first 
be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer 
thy gift. Agree with thine adversary quickly, while 
thou art in the way with him ; lest at any time the 
adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge 
deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into pri- 
son. Yerily I say unto thee. Thou shalt by no means 
come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost 
farthing. 

Ye have heard that it was said by them of old 
time. Thou shalt not commit adultery: But I say 
unto you. That whosoever looketh on a woman to 
lust after her, hath committed adultery with her 
already in his heart. And if thy right eye offend 
thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee : for it is 
profitable for thee that one of thy members should 
perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast 
into hell. And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it 
off, and cast it from thee : for it is profitable for thee 



SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 117 

that one of tliy members sliould perish, and not that 
thy whole body should be cast into hell. It hath 
been said, Whosoever shall put away his wife, let 
him give her a writing of divorcement : But I say 
unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, 
saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to 
commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her 
that is divorced, committeth adultery. 

Again ye have heard that it hath been said by 
them of old time, Thou shalt not forswear thyself, 
but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths : But I 
say unto you. Swear not at all : neither by heaven ; 
for it is God's throne: Nor by the earth; for it is 
his footstool: neither by Jerusalem; for it is the 
city of the great King : Neither shalt thou swear by 
thy head, because thou canst not make one hair 
white or black. But let your communication be. 
Yea, yea ; Nay, nay : for whatsoever is more than 
these Cometh of evil. 

Te have heard that it hath been said, An eye for 
an eye, and a tooth for a tooth. But I say unto you, 
That ye resist not evil : but whosoever shall smite 
thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. 
And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take 
away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also. And 
whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with 
him twain. Give to him that asketh thee, and from 
him that would borrow of thee, turn not thou away. 
' Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt 
love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy : But I 
say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that 
curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray 



118 SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 

for them which despitefully use you, and persecute 
you; that ye may be the children of your Father 
which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise 
on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the 
just and on the unjust. For if ye love them which 
love you, what reward have ye? do not even the 
publicans the same? And if ye salute your breth- 
ren only, what do ye more than others f do not even 
the publicans so? Be ye therefore perfect, even as 
your Father which is in heaven is perfect. 

Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, 
to be seen of them : otherwise ye have no reward of 
your Father w^hich is in heaven. Therefore, when 
yiou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before 
thee, as the hypocrites do, in the synagogues, and in 
the streets, that they may have glory of men. Ye- 
rily I say unto you, They have their reward. But 
when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know 
what thy right hand doeth ; that thine alms may be 
in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret, 
himself shall reward thee openly. 

And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the 
hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in 
the synagogues, and in the corners of the streets, 
that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto 
you. They have their reward. But thou, when thou 
prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast 
shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret ; 
and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward 
thee openly. But when ye pray, use not vain repe- 
titions, as the heathen do : for they think that they 
shall be heard for their much speaking. Be ye not 



SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 119 

therefore like unto tlicm: for your Father knoweth 
what things ye have need of before ye ask him. 
After this manner therefore pray ye : 

Our Failier ivhich art in heaven, hallowed he thy 
name. Thy kingdom come. Thy ivill he done in earth 
as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. 
And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. 
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. 
For thine is the Idngdom, and the j)ower, and the glory, 
for ever. Amen. 

For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your hea- 
venly Father will also forgive you : but if ye forgive 
not men their trespasses, neither will your Father 
forgive your trespasses. 

Moreover, when ye fast, be not as the hypocrites, 
of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, 
that they may appear unto men to fast. Yerily I 
say unto you. They have their reward. But thou, 
when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy 
face; that thou appear not unto men to fast, but 
unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father 
which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. 
. Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, 
where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves 
break through and steal : but lay up for yourselves 
treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust 
doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through 
nor steal. For where your treasure is, there will 
your heart be also. The light of the body is the 
eye : if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body 



120 SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 

shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy 
whole body shall be full of darkness. K therefore 
the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is 
that darkness ! 

No man can serve two masters : for either he will 
hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold 
to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve 
God and mammon. Therefore I say unto you, Take 
no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what 
ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall 
put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the 
body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air: 
for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather 
into barns ; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. 
Are ye not much better than they? Which of you 
by taking thought can add one cubit unto his sta- 
ture? And why take ye thought for raiment? Con- 
sider the lilies of the field, how they grow ; they toil 
not, neither do they spin ; and yet I say unto, you, 
That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed 
like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the 
grass of the field, which to-day is, and to-morrow is 
cast into the oven, shall lie not much more clothe you, 
ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought, 
saying. What shall we eat? or. What shall we drink? 
or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed ? • (For after all 
these things do the Gentiles seek) : for your heavenly 
Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. 
But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his right- 
eousness ; and all these things shall be added unto 
you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow : for 



SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 121 

the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. 
Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. 

Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what 
judgment ye judge, ye shall he judged: and with 
what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you 
again. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in 
thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that 
is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy 
brother. Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye ; 
and behold, a beam is in thine own eye? Thou 
hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own 
eye ; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the 
mote out of thy brother's eye. 

Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither 
cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample 
them under their feet, and turn again and rend you. 

Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye 
shall iind; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: 
for every one that asketh, receiveth ; and he that 
seeketh, hndetli ; and to him that knocketh, it shall 
be opened. Or what man is there of you, whom if 
his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if 
he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? If ye 
then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto 
your children, how much more shall your Father 
which is in heaven give good things to them that 
ask him ? Therefore all things whatsoever ye would 
that men should do to you, do ye even so to them : 
for this is the law and the prophets. 

Enter ye in at the strait gate; for wide is the 
gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruc- 
tion, and many there be which go in thereat: be- 



122 SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 

cause, strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, 
which leadeth mito life, and few there be that find 
it. 

Beware of false prophets, which come to yon in 
sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening 
wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits : Do 
men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? 
Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit ; 
but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good 
tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a cor- 
rupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that 
bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and 
cast into the fire. Wherefore, by their fruits ye 
shall know them. 

Not every one that saith unto me. Lord, Lord, 
shall enter into the kingdom of heaven ; but he 
that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. 
Many will say to me in that day. Lord, Lord, have 
we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name 
have cast out devils ? and in thy name done many 
wonderful works? And then will I profess unto 
them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that 
work iniquity. 

Therefore, whosoever heareth these sayings of 
mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise 
man, which built his house upon a rock : and the 
rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds 
blew, and beat upon that house ; and it fell not : 
for it was founded upon a rock. And every one 
that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them 
not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built 
his house upon the sand : and the rain descended, 



SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 123 

and the floods came, and the winds bleAv, and beat 
upon that house ; and it fell : and great was the 
fall of it. 

And it came to pass when Jesus had ended these 
sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine. 
For he taught them as one having authority, and 
not as the scribes. 



"Praise God, from whom all blessiDgs flow; 
Praise Him, all creatures here below; 
Praise Him above, ye heavenly host; 
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost." 



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